Cyberworld Immortals

by Manus Dei

After the Cybeast incident, a temporary peace settles in. However, time flows ever onward, bringing new changes within and without. The Hikari twins are about to face their greatest challenge, as mysterious forces begin their work and visitors from afar enter their lives.

36. The Imperative and the Affirmative

Chapter 36 – The Imperative and the Affirmative

"Who are you?" Lan asked, still somewhat disoriented by the sudden change of scenery. "And where am I? I thought I was supposed to be asleep right now."

"In a way, you are." the figure explained. "For simplicity's sake, I will say that I possess the ability to summon the consciousness of others when they are in a diminished state. It is simpler than making the journey or physically removing them from their location. I already had the pleasure of hosting one of your friends some time ago. As for who I am, you may call me Raziel."

Everything about the figure struck Lan as odd. The man – or what at least looked like one – struck a slim figure, wearing an odd suit of golden armor partially covered by a simple white toga. The brown piece of cloth wrapped around his neck and the lower part of his face clashed horribly with the rest of the outfit, being of a dull brown, with a weathered, battered look, and bearing a strange jagged insignia he had never seen before, traced in white. Long, smooth dark hair cascaded down his shoulders, and the most unnerving feature of all was by far his eyes, both due to the way his face was framed by the piece of cloth and the blue light radiating from them.

The large tome, held tightly in his hands, seemed incredibly old to Lan's eyes. The fact that the stranger was able to carry it so effortlessly – along with his other features – suggested that he might not be entirely human.

"Well, I'm here. What exactly do you want with me?" Lan asked, more than a little wary of the entire situation after the ordeal he had just been through. It was then that the figure stood up, and Lan noticed the wings protruding from his back. Six of them, white as snow.

"What exactly are you?" Lan muttered, looking absolutely baffled.

"I guess not all who hear my name recognize it right away." Raziel said with a hint of amusement. "Then again, I somewhat prefer this type of reaction. I do fear that I may have overwhelmed your friend with too much information. This is what happens when I stay here among my books for too long. I tend to get a little too talkative."

"OK… and… what exactly is this all about?"

"Our meeting has been long overdue." Raziel replied, before raising a hand. "But where are my manners? After all these years I am somewhat out of touch with social etiquette. I did not even think to offer your friend a seat."

Lan found the being's sudden change in demeanor rather confusing and was even more baffled when a pair of wooden garden chairs appeared out of nowhere, followed by a square table where piles of books and a large teapot were resting. Feeling the stranger's gaze upon him, Lan hesitantly sat down, after which he did the same.

"So, starting from the beginning." Raziel explained. "Our mutual acquaintances who are so fond of jumping between worlds are not the only ones with an eye on you and yours. The history behind it all is somewhat long and convoluted, and our time here today is limited, so I will try to be brief. As you've probably been hearing a lot lately, you and your brother are gifted, and said gift is keen on manifesting itself only in extreme situations – at least for now."

Raziel stopped talking for a moment and looked around as if searching for something. With a sigh of annoyance, he snapped his fingers and a pair of teacups materialized on the table. He filled them from the teapot and placed one in front of his guest before continuing. Lan hesitantly looked at it and then waited to see what his strange host would say next.

"You've seen shades of it before, of course. Your Cyberworld is a place where one's will and true nature are easier to make manifest. Manifesting them in the physical realm, however, is a challenge on a different level, one which you have only recently begun to overcome. And with that, you are slowly gaining the ability to project your will on the world around you in a different way from the usual. Are you following so far?"

Lan nodded and, feeling his head spinning a little, tentatively took a sip from his cup. The taste was much like mint, but sweeter and with some other elements he did not recognize. Pushing out of his mind the considerations of how he was able to feel all this when he was technically dreaming, he actually found the brew rather enjoyable and soothing to the mind. Raziel waited for him to finish his sipping before continuing.

"With this power come new possibilities. Your actions will have considerable influence on the future of your world in the years to come. However, I feel I must also give you a warning. Power is drawn to power. My… colleague's vague suggestions of what lies beyond your world, and your recent unscheduled trip are probably filling your head with ideas and with the urge to see what else is out there. But before you go blasting off into the stars or delving into other parallel worlds, I strongly recommend that you consider what kind of future your world will have in your absence."

"What do you mean?" Lan asked, feeling both curiosity and a growing sense of dread.

"Right now your world is relatively isolated, both by its technology level and its location. However, this will not always be the case. Between the rapid technological advancement, the frankly superhuman abilities you and others are manifesting in growing numbers and now the visitors from entirely different realms, it is only a matter of time before your world attracts unwanted attention."

"Aliens?" Lan asked, still unsure whether to feel curious or apprehensive. He could not deny that the strange visitors had piqued his curiosity, but the larger implications suggested by his host had also weighed heavily in his mind.

"Among others. And worse. For now, the ability to freely jump between realms is considerably restricted, but even limiting the scope, your own galaxy can be dangerous enough to an unprepared world."

"And how and why are you telling me all this? What exactly are you?"

"A keeper of knowledge." Raziel explained. "'The' Keeper of Knowledge. I see the potential in sapient life – humans in particular – and try to nurture it, while also trying to keep them from becoming intoxicated with it and the power it brings. There is much I cannot share now, because of what many might do with this knowledge, but it is my hope that by contacting exceptional individuals I can still produce an overall positive effect. While I would be delighted to go over my history in further detail, our time right now is short. You should ask your friend. Even across time and all the parallel worlds, portions of my tale still managed to find their way into the hands of mortals."

"You mentioned several times that you hosted a friend of mine recently. Who might that be?"

Raziel's reply gave Lan pause, both by the words and by the contrast between the shrouded visage and the hint of mischievous amusement in his voice.

"A scientist, much like you will grow to become one day. Determined, reckless, madly in love. Familiar?"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Lan managed to articulate, chuckling softly.

"Rather than wait for him to fall asleep – and trust me, you do not want to know what he dreams about – I took the liberty of summoning him for a quick conversation while he was unconscious from his injuries. I may have overplayed the dramatic angle a bit, and revealed a bit too much, but he was a curious one, much like you – and the presence of curious people is a rare treat. He is… unusual, much like you. Similar in many regards, but set on a different path from yours."

"How so?"

"You all shine, but in in different ways, like light projected through different facets of a gem. You and your brother are at home on the forefront, confronting danger and evil directly. You tend to act first and think later, though as the years go by I noticed that you are gradually making better use of your mind. On the other hand, Cadmus Atreides would be happiest if allowed to focus on his work, build, create, keep providing people like you the tools to do a better job. In that regard, I would say he is more similar to your own father and grandfather. Make no mistake though. Underneath that quiet, unassuming visage is a man who will fight with the fury of a cornered beast if those around him come to harm. Overall, all three of you would make fine peers once you are done with Earth. But let us not get ahead of ourselves."

"So how exactly did he catch your attention?" Lan asked. "There is much I still do not know."

Raziel sighed, and Lan could see a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Ah, my friend… There is much both of you do not know. In this particular case perhaps it is a mercy that he does not have any recollection of those events as he was too young at the time. Before he became the man you know today he was a ward of the state – an orphan. His earliest days are tied to the history of his homeland and stained with tragedy… and I fear that given the present crisis he will be confronted with that forgotten past soon."

"And what about us?" Lan asked. "Can you tell us more about what we are now facing?"

"An abomination, crafted by human hands and given intellect but nothing else that makes a human what it is. A sum of parts that cannot be considered a true whole. You will see what I mean firsthand when the time comes to take the fight to its lair. That monster's crimes are more numerous and terrible than you know."

"And what of this power?" Lan asked. "Can you tell me anything else about how to use it? I imagine I won't be able to stay here much longer to ask for more details."

"You would be correct. I have already taken too much of your time and your companions will need you again soon. Before you go, however, I will tell you this. Stay focused, bear no malice and strike with determination. This power comes from within. It takes time to nurture but you have already broken through the shell. I will be watching your progress with great interest. Good luck."

And with that Lan's surroundings shifted again. He could see the Earth below as if from space, and at the edge of his perception he spotted the dark mass of the accursed construct in orbit that was responsible for so much of his recent tribulations, its surface dotted by flashes of light here and there. Before he could take a better look, he found himself plummeting below, spinning increasingly faster. Soon he could see Dentown, then the factory complex, then his own sleeping body on the chair...

He woke up to find Hub and Gallant staring at him with a concerned look on their faces.

"What happened there?" Hub asked with a frown. "Did I miss something?"

"Huh… no, I guess I was just more tired than I thought and it all finally caught up with me." Lan explained. He noticed he was not wearing his helmet, and then realized that Hub had removed it out of concern and was currently holding it. Letting out a sigh of relief, he stood up from the chair.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you like that. But how long was I out?"

"About half an hour, give or take." Hub replied before turning to Gallant. "Anything new on the screen?"

To his credit, Gallant seemed to have fully regained his composure after the previous incident, though Lan knew the experience would likely leave its mark.

"I do wish Wily had set this up with a more interactive interface." Gallant explained with a sigh. "From what I see here, this facility and the surrounding ones are clean. No more killer robots coming out of them. However, given the current situation with communications, it will take time for a full global cleanup."

"Did I see that right though?" Lan muttered incredulously. "Colonel and Iris? I thought they were gone. As in, there was nothing left of them."

"They bear the names, but I'm not sure how much of them is actually here." Hub pondered, stepping up to the screen and beckoning him closer. "See for yourself."

On the screen, two windows were visible, displaying the status of what appeared to be two distinct programs operating in tandem. From what Lan saw, the 'Colonel' system was aggressively purging any traces of the malware responsible for hijacking the factories and attempting to break through the jamming to continue its work in other locations. The 'Iris' system on the other hand, was repairing the damage done to the local programs and restoring the overall system to its original condition, though it was also being hampered by the communications jamming.

"So this is what Wily meant by correcting one of his biggest mistakes..." Lan mused. "Splitting the original Colonel in two… and the self-destruct code. And by the looks of it, he's been hard at work at this almost nonstop since the Cybeast incident was fully resolved and he was allowed access to a computer again. I always thought he was putting his talent to waste, and this is proof. If these systems go global… half the workload done by Officials will be gone. Antivirus companies will probably also go out of business."

"That would explain why his health keeps deteriorating." Hub pondered. "He's been working himself ragged for this. Or maybe… he thinks he doesn't have much time left and wanted to at least finish this?"

"The names are definitely not a coincidence, that's for sure." Lan concluded. "But I wonder… No, I need to know. I owe them this much. Is there a way for us to communicate with them from here?"

"Afraid not." Gallant explained. "This interface was not made for that, and they are fully engaged in their tasks to the point of ignoring user input. We would need different equipment to get their attention… or maybe to interface with the network directly."

"That, we can do." Hub said with a smile. "Lan is right. We do owe them that-"

He was interrupted by another bout of static like he had previously sensed, and then his senses were overwhelmed by an onslaught of wireless signals. It seemed that something was coming back to life in the world at large.

"Did you guys feel that?"

Lan shrugged.

"Felt what?"

Gallant, on the other hand nodded. The thing about designs derived from Copy Bots was that they tended to retain their wireless transmitters and other computer interface capabilities, and so it was plain to him that something was going on.

"I think..." Gallant said hesitantly. "I think the jamming has been dealt with, at least in part."

"They did it then." Lan said with a sigh of relief. "I was getting worried."

"They? Did what?" Hub asked, giving him a quizzical look. The expression was mirrored by Gallant, who was also out of the loop in that regard.

"Right. With all the crap that's been going on, I haven't had the time to fill you in on a lot of stuff. The reason I disappeared was because Sean invited me for the testing of one of his portal devices, and the whole thing definitely didn't go as planned. We ended up somewhere else entirely, stranded, and… well, who would show up to pick us up if not our strange visitors?"

"So where did you end up then?" Hub asked. "We couldn't find your PET's signal, and I couldn't sense your presence at all."

"This is going to sound really weird, but considering everything that's happened in the last few hours, screw it." Lan said with a shrug. "Some kind of parallel Earth, of all things. The explanation they gave was that Sean's device was a bit off the mark and sent us there instead of opening a path to the Cyberworld because apparently these two particular Earths are very close to each other or something."

"Wait what?" Hub mused. "But then that would mean..."

"The whole thing was really weird." Lan continued. "And by the looks of it, the situation and history of that place are pretty dire compared to ours. Apparently they developed along the lines of robotics instead of network technology and things went very wrong somewhere along the line. But brother, that's not the weirdest part."

"What would be the weirdest part then?" Hub asked, looking utterly dumbfounded.

"They have or had alternate versions of a bunch of people from here." Lan explained. "We've already even met some of them before without realizing it."

"You mean..." Hub muttered. "Of course! Those people! The ones who kept touring the city and visiting SciLab with that El guy… I had some conversations with our friends working there, and they kept mentioning how they would randomly show up, and how they couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about them… But the weirdness doesn't stop there. After all, there was that time they found yet another person from another world, who has been living here as an exile for years."

Noticing Gallant's confusion about that last part and realizing he had missed that particular encounter, he caught himself.

"Right, you were not there." Hub said. "This whole mess caught up with us so suddenly we really need to set some time aside later to make sure we're all on the same page."

"But if they come from a parallel Earth that has alternate versions of people from here..." Hub pondered. "Then who exactly crossed over to ours? Different versions of people we know? Someone else we've never heard of?"

"Uh..." Lan muttered. "How can I put this? I can say we definitely know some of them in some form or another, but they asked me not to lift that particular curtain yet. They're probably waiting for the best time to do it themselves since they already ended up getting involved in things here anyway. Given that they went to the trouble of getting us home after our involuntary excursion and have been helping with the communications issue, I figure we owe them that much."

"You sound like you know what's going on in that area too." Hub pointed out.

"The assholes responsible for this robot outbreak..." Lan explained. "They somehow managed to set up some kind of huge jamming device right under everyone's noses… or rather above everyone's heads. We stumbled upon it on the way back. Something huge, built right in the middle of one of the biggest debris fields from all the old space programs and abandoned satellites. Nobody would have thought to look there. Concealment and plenty of materials in a single package."

"So we have aliens that look like us, synthetic humans, and people from parallel worlds… and other non-parallel worlds..." Gallant summed it up, shaking his head. "I don't suppose one of you brought some aspirin?"

Lan chuckled and patted him on the back.

"See? What did I tell you earlier? So very human."

"Too human." Gallant retorted. "But if I am to be part of this world, then I would experience it as closely as organic humans would. Let life throw everything it wants at me. I'll face it as a man, not a machine."

"So… who else knows about this?" Hub asked.

"If you mean the parallel world people, as far as I know, we're the only ones." Lan explained. "Sean had his suspicions about the alien stuff and was thrown into the other Earth with me, so he knows that part, but not about Verus. Cadmus and Ciel knew their visitors were likely not from Earth, but I doubt any of them imagined that other particular tangent. It still feels really weird to be talking about such concepts so casually."

"Well, yeah, if a bunch of weird people keep popping in and out of your workplace as if doors and security measures did not matter, it would be easy to assume that they were either dangerous spies or something else entirely." Gallant pointed out. "And spies would not be so damn conspicuous. The stunts they've pulled and the way they talked to us before already gave strong suggestions that they weren't quite from around here. They walked up to Cadmus and Ciel, showed off their synthetic human technology, even gave them a little pep talk about how they were on the right track."

"They pretty much admitted it, during that thing you missed." Hub pointed out. "The weirdness just keeps piling up with no end in sight."

"You don't know the half of it..." Lan muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "The exile we met was on a whole different league of weirdness. But as for that group in particular, they did ask me to be discreet about all this parallel world stuff for a little while longer, so we won't be able to lay all the cards on the table just yet. I don't know the whole story myself."

Hub pondered the implications of all this, but he had a more pressing concern at the moment. With the disruption of the jamming signal, his transmitters were getting overloaded with thousands of communications, ranging from open signal distress calls to people trying to contact their families and friends.

The fact that he was even picking up what was supposed to be private communications attested to the overwhelming strain that was being placed on Earth's infrastructure at the moment. Reaching inward, he set up some filters to block out most of the unwanted signals, leaving only those specifically directed at him and general distress calls in their vicinity.

With a sigh of relief, he opened his eyes again and looked at his brother.

"It looks like the world is waking up." Hub said solemnly. "And it's definitely pissed." he added not so solemnly. "Humanity is fighting back."

"I guess that settles it then." Lan said. "They definitely blew that damn thing to hell."

"Colonel has broken the enemy's encryption." Gallant announced. "The enemy tried to shut down the network equipment remotely but Colonel has locked in on their signal and is reaching out to other facilities. This may take a few hours, however, given how much ground he has to cover."

"So much for our chance to check if there's anything left of the original." Lan lamented. "But what do we do now?"

As if on cue, his PET rang. Lan pondered how long it had been since someone had contacted him through there. As he picked it up and answered the call, he was surprised to be greeted by a figure in a white bird-themed suit with pink highlights and a pink winged crest over the chest, complete with a matching helmet with a black visor, ornamented with a design much like a bird's eyes and beak.

"Ah, I see we finally managed to get a signal through." the figure said with an electronically distorted voice that made it impossible to identify. Lan did recognize the design of the outfit though, and that gave him a pretty good idea of who he was dealing with.

"Are you seriously playing dress up with the cybersuits at a time like this?" he scolded. "It does look as cool as the red one though… in a different way."

The figure paused for a moment and then laughed.

"I know. But I doubt I'd be getting another chance like this anytime soon." the figure replied, the mischievous tone coming across even through the voice distortion. "Besides, I wanted to show it off at least once. I'm sure you've heard of someone going by the alias Lunar Swan before?"

Lan quirked an eyebrow as the name brought back memories of the Asteroid incident.

"Two sets of tournaments, Eagle and Hawk. Two systems working in tandem to stop the disaster." Lan muttered. "The Red Sun Laser… and the Blue Moon Satellite."

"Correct. The true purpose of the tournaments was only known to a few." the figure continued. "While you were in charge of handling the insertion via laser and fighting whatever you found on the other side..."

The figure then disabled the voice distortion, and Lan definitely recognized the sweet girl speaking from the other side.

"I was your backup, doing the necessary calculations and operating the satellite with the help of a very good wingman. He came up with the idea of the suits, first as masking filters for all the virtual conference bits and then as tools for use in the Cyberworld. So you see, Lan, there were many reasons why we approached you after starting our partnership with SciLab."

The figure removed its helmet and Lan saw Ciel's face on the screen, wearing a mischievous smile despite how tired she looked. Lan also noticed that her eyes were unusually reddish, but chose not to comment on it out of politeness despite being obviously concerned.

"So it was you all this time." Lan muttered. "But why the secrecy? Why the dramatics with the suit and the alias?"

"I was never a fan of the spotlight." Ciel explained with a smile and a shrug. "I knew what was at stake since I was approached by government officials and invited to join the effort. I agreed to help on the condition that my identity be withheld from all public records. This way you got the help you needed, and I kept my privacy. I already had enough going on in my life without being hounded by journalists, fans and so on. Also, due to our studies and other work, we had very little time for the intercontinental flights that our participation would require, so we negotiated a provision to let us join in remotely. Zero entered the associated tournaments with me, also in disguise, and you know what happened next. The only time I actually had to travel was very close to the end of it. We almost got to meet in person during the final stages of the operation, back at the command center, but you missed me by just a matter of minutes since I had to get to my station."

"Wait a minute..." Lan muttered as he suddenly realized something. "A red hawk, an obviously white swan… Don't tell me… Did you guys dress Zero up as a black condor?"

"Maaaaaaaybe…" Ciel replied, trying her best to make an innocent face while fighting the urge to giggle. Lan was almost sure he'd heard someone groaning in the background next to her.

"Huh…" Hub intervened. "And nobody ever caught on?"

"The eyes of the world were focused on Eagle and then Red Sun." Ciel explained. "The secondary tournaments were more discreet affairs. Their existence was known, but the participants were not so widely divulged and the general public was focused on what it perceived to be the main events. It was more of an academic and specialist circuit, rather than being open to everyone from military graduates to hobbyists and world famous heroes. As for what you're probably wondering, while the whole battling thing was never my main hobby, my other skills were useful in that field, and you know firsthand what Zero is capable of on his own. Together… we pretty much took those competitions by storm. Then again, most of the other participants were nowhere near as proficient in battle as you two. They were, after all, looking for people qualified to operate the satellite first and foremost."

"It is a tremendous relief to know you're all right." Gallant intervened. "But what happened? Where are you?"

"Patience. You will know all of this soon. Now that we know where you are and can actually navigate properly, you can expect a vehicle to be sent to pick you up soon. We have matters to discuss that are too sensitive for remote communications."

"What? Now?" Lan stuttered. "But we're still in the middle of a war zone here! We can't just leave."

Ciel gave him a sad smile, knowing how difficult it would be for him to accept leaving.

"Trust me, I know. But as your friend, I hope you will believe me when I say that you will be able to do a lot more good by coming to meet us than by fighting on the streets one building at a time. You are not alone in this fight. It's about time you realized it."

Lan sighed and weighed his options. It was not an easy decision, but Ciel had never been once to deceive him and he figured that there was more going on than he knew. The fact that she had just disclosed information she was under no obligation to share also spoke of the trust she was placing in him. After exchanging a short glance with his brother, he knew what he needed to do.

"Fine." he conceded. "But I'm going to need a doctor to check up on Dex downstairs. It would also be nice if I could get word to the others still fighting outside."

"As for the former, don't worry." Ciel reassured. "Our… Guardians… are very good at their job, and medical training is part of their repertoire. As for the latter… it can be arranged."

"All right then." Hub intervened. "We will see you soon."

Ciel nodded and ended the call.

"Is it just me, or did something seem… different about her?" Gallant pondered.

"You mean aside from the obvious stress and fatigue?" Hub asked. "You know her better than we do."

"That she still found the presence of spirit to pull this small prank at a time like this is reassuring." Gallant mused. "Still, she looked… shaken about something."

"She looked like she'd been crying..." Lan thought with apprehension.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Lan concluded. "But yes, I noticed it too. It's almost as if she pulled that small prank to cheer herself up as much as to come clean."

"When did you learn to read people like that?" Hub asked in surprise.

"Brother, I know my head is among the thickest substances in the universe." Lan admitted. "But after everything we've lived through… and the progress with Mayl, I'd have to be blind not to notice some things. Speaking of which..."

He then reached for his PET and tried to call Mayl. She picked up almost instantly.

"Lan? Are you OK out there?" she asked. By the look on her face, Lan concluded that she had probably had not had a single moment of rest since their departure.

"Can't complain." Lan replied, flashing a reassuring grin at her. "I'm in good company here."

"It looks like the communications issue has been solved, at least for now." she said. "Not being able to get through to you was driving me up a wall. But did you have something to do with this?"

"Not this time. I had to delegate. I'm glad I did too."

Lan heard a muffled squeal in the background and then saw Roll popping on the screen as well.

"We knew you could do it!" she chimed in, looking more like her usual energetic self. The brothers couldn't help but smile.

"So, what's going on over there?" Mayl asked. "Is it safe to go outside yet?"

"We stopped the local factories but Wily's countermeasures are still spreading to the rest of the network." Lan explained. "We don't know at this point if the thing that was jamming all our signals was also responsible for controlling the robots or not, so be careful."

"Will do." Mayl nodded. "By the way, Sean and Pride are upstairs trying to sift through all the network traffic to check the situation. Do you want me to tell them anything?"

Lan stopped to think for a moment and then had an idea.

"Get them to call everyone. All the people we've run into and befriended on our adventures, especially the ones in town or with training to pitch in. Toss my name in if anyone tries to be obstructive. Check if they're OK, what they're doing, and how we can all coordinate to get through this mess. This isn't something we can fix just by accessing one big computer or beating one big virus. I'm sending you all the contact information now."

Mayl nodded and paused for a moment as Lan sent her his contact files. As the copy and transfer were confirmed successful, she smiled.

"On it." she finally said. "When do you think you'll be able to come back?"

"I don't know yet. There are still things I need to take care of, and my presence is required. Stay safe."

"You too. Come back in one piece, you hear?"

"It's a promise." Lan said with a grin, not wanting to worry her further by mentioning what had just happened at the assembly line. Seeing Mayl smile again, he ended the call, feeling his chest considerably lighter already.

"I'm impressed." Hub chimed in. "I didn't think you'd take this kind of initiative."

"Like I said, we're not going to win this one by just beating one big bad thing in cyberspace. This is bigger than us, and we need all hands on deck."

Hub beamed with pride at how much his brother had matured over the years. The fact that he had been able to be there to watch it all was enough to make his eyes moist. Not wanting to get overly sentimental there and then, and still worried about Dex, he headed downstairs to check up on him.

After the previous exertions, Dex seemed to be completely out of breath, lying on the floor staring at the ceiling in a daze. He seemed aware of Hub's presence, but did not move to acknowledge it.

"You OK there big guy?" Hub asked, poking his cheek.

"Dunno…" Dex muttered between breaths. "Am I? Feels like I lost a fight with a steamroller. What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Hub asked, looking confused.

"I remember those damn tin cans busting out the pea shooters… and… shit!"

He bolted to a sitting position, his eyes bulging out again.

"What happened to Lan? Is he all right?!"

"He's fine." Hub reassured him. "He's upstairs finishing something and will be back shortly."

"Huh… I guess maybe I was seeing things?" Dex muttered. "Maybe the adrenaline made me hallucinate or something? I really can't remember anything after that… and my head hurts."

Hub felt really sorry for Dex, having had his share of unpleasant experiences with a very similar kind of evil energy. Feeling that it was not the right time to go over it, given their present circumstances, he patted Dex's shoulder instead.

"Relax Dex. We're all OK now. We'll talk about what happened later, but for now just focus on getting your strength back."

About thirty minutes later, the sounds of battle were heard outside the factory. Lan and the others ran to the gate and saw what looked like a black VTOL helicopter raining down fire on the last remaining robots in the area. A few of the larger models were already lying in pieces all around the area. It was then that Lan realized that this 'helicopter' had no propellers to speak of, hovering in the air through some unseen force. He also did not recognize the insignia on its side.

"Is that...our ride?" he muttered.

He did, however, recognize the crew as they deployed a ladder and one of them climbed down. Agent Phantom landed, wearing a strange armored suit they had never seen before, with a slim design but made of some strange material that gave its black surface a peculiar sheen. What surprised Lan the most, however, was how Phantom walked up to them and rather conspicuously saluted him.

"Uh… what are you doing?" Lan asked, feeling a little awkward.

"Just following orders, sir." the Agent plainly stated. "Where is the patient?"

"Right there." Lan replied, pointing at Dex, who seemed more composed but still rather exhausted. Phantom nodded, and Fairy followed him down from the flying vehicle.

After a cursory examination, she frowned.

"Some bruises, obvious signs of fatigue and emotional distress, and possibly some sprained muscles, but nothing too severe." she said, her face an unreadable mask. "There is… something else as well, but my instruments cannot measure or quantify it properly..."

"That will not be necessary." Ryu's voice interrupted as he walked in, followed by Sakura. Both of them looked none the worse for the wear, despite what must have been intense fighting. They exchanged glances and then walked up to Dex.

"I sensed it." Ryu said, giving Dex a sad look. "I should not have let you go on without us. The strain of the situation was probably too much."

"Master?" Dex asked, clearly confused.

"Do you remember it? What we talked about before? The trip to the hospital?" Ryu asked.

Something seemed to click in Dex's mind after a moment, and he looked absolutely horrified.

"I-is that what happened? Ah damnit! What have I done?!"

Ryu knelt down next to him and shook his head.

"This is why I was reluctant to instruct new students in the higher tiers. The strain can and will often leave them vulnerable to this. There is no need for you to be ashamed. This is a flaw in our teachings that I have long worked to correct. Looking at things here, it seems you handled yourself quite admirably."

Dex was not expecting that. Ryu was by no means a harsh teacher, but the praise he offered was always genuine, and to receive it again after what to Dex felt like a massive moment of weakness was deeply moving.

"Thank you sir!" Dex managed to say, feeling his eyes getting a little moist as he bowed his head. "I will do better next time!"

"I know you will." Ryu replied with a soft smile. He then turned to Fairy.

"We will handle the rest from here. It seems that you have other places you need to get to. Safe journey, and stay in touch."

There was something about the man's presence that made Fairy have difficulty finding the motivation to argue, so instead she just nodded and ran back to the others.

Once the twins and Gallant were seated and strapped in, the door on the side of the flying vehicle closed and it darted off with barely a sound.

"So what exactly is this thing?" Lan asked, both excited and awed.

"MLEs." Phantom explained. "Magnetic Levitation Engines. Still in the prototype stage, due for a few more years of testing before general release. This model, however, is stable and powerful enough for our purposes, so Department 13 has outfitted a few vehicles with it for emergency situations."

"So, a rotorless spy chopper then?" Lan quipped.

"Secret service and emergency humanitarian relief operations." Phantom clarified.

"Those sound like two awfully different things to be managed by the same department..." Lan pointed out.

"Not as much as you think." Phantom explained. "Sometimes if you want to get help where it's needed, you need to cut through some red tape. Plus, this kind of experience may be valuable later on for different things."

"Neo Atlantis sounds like a very strange place, regardless..." Lan mused.

"You are about to become acquainted with it… and with how strange it can be." Phantom said with an unreadable expression.

It was difficult to gauge how long the trip took, between their excitement, fatigue and the questions racing through their minds. The occasional glance through the small windows did not help matters much as most of the time all they saw was ocean.

After some time, the scenery finally changed, and a large landmass came into view.

The independent state of Neo Atlantis, one of the youngest nations in the world, had been established not long after the Reordering, when a good portion of the world was still getting its bearings. Built by scientists and engineers upon an artificial island raised from the seafloor and expanded with man-made structures in a ludicrously short amount of time, it housed a surprising amount of green spaces. Its sprawling cities, following an aesthetic that would have made them fit right into a sci-fi movie, employed a combination of cutting edge metal and plastic and a design that sought to balance comfort and energy efficiency.

Lan did not know much about its history and culture, except that it had been supposedly founded by three figures whose identities seemed to have been wiped from the public records for some unfathomable reason. What people told him of the island and its inhabitants had given him the mental image of a Sci-Lab equivalent the size of a small country, but he wasn't sure how accurate that might be.

The main urban area was divided into several concentric rings, around which specialized districts were arranged. Even from above, Lan couldn't help noticing how organized the layout was, almost eerily so.

The vehicle took them towards the central ring, past the visibly large international airport and into a smaller, secluded area.

"Attention passengers!" a voice sounded on the intercom, which they recognized as belonging to Agent Fighter. "Please keep your seat belts fastened until we have made a full stop and your hands on the armrests. If you hit your heads, the pilot reserves the right to make fun of you. That is all. Welcome to our home."

That message definitely caught Lan, Hub and Gallant off guard, and they exchanged puzzled glances. Meanwhile Phantom sighed and Fairy's impassive mask cracked as she muttered something under her breath.

The vehicle landed on a metal landing pad, and the passengers immediately disembarked. While the twins paused briefly to take in their surroundings, Gallant went ahead. Fairy, on the other hand, waited outside the vehicle until Fighter was out, and proceeded to tug on his ear until he yelped.

"Idiot..." she muttered before turning around and checking in on the passengers.

Lan and Hub exchanged glances and then looked around. They seemed to be in some kind of open air landing pad, but the only exit seemed to lead them indoors. Behind them, beyond the flying machine, was a ludicrously tall wire fence showing a view of the urban sprawl around them. To their right, they could see a large reinforced glass window and an interior corridor, while to their left was a massive wall topped by what looked like a control tower.

The door in front of them was flanked by two guards, wearing unusual blue uniforms that would not have looked out of place in a space themed sci-fi show, both ornamented with a golden insignia shaped like a trident with clockwork wings. The guards remained expressionless despite their guests' strange attire and simply saluted as the three Agents led them inside. Lan and Hub carried their helmets under their arms, trying not to look too self-conscious about being seen wearing their suits.

"So where's your colleague?" Lan asked. "Sage, was it?"

"He is waiting for us further ahead." Phantom explained.

The Agents quickly led them out of the building and into what looked like an underground parking space. Again Lan was surprised, this time by a reasonably sized four door car that was waiting for them, hovering above the pavement without wheels.

"Just how far ahead are you from the rest of the world?" he asked, blinking.

"Not as far as you might think." Fairy explained. "Twelve to fifteen years, depending on the field. I suppose you could say we are a bit peculiar about the technology we share. Our researchers are not satisfied until they've worked out all the kinks, built things up to their standards. We do have some very lucrative export contracts but the people above us are extremely selective. They don't want our technology being misused."

Lan was understandably at a loss for words. The future, it seemed, had some sooner than he anticipated. The Agents opened the back doors for them and this time Phantom took the driver's seat while Fairy took the other one at the front. Fighter was relegated to the back seat, which was thankfully ample enough to accommodate four people without issue.

As the car made it through the open streets, the brothers noticed how unnaturally clean everything looked. There were trash containers at every crosswalk and bus stop, with signs of heavy use, but it seemed that nobody dared to litter. There were also no signs of the typical damage to public property seen in big cities, such as broken glasses and benches in bus stops or graffiti.

"Awfully clean place you've got here." Lan remarked. "What's the trick?"

"You've probably heard how some states have some rather harsh penalties against littering and destruction of public property?" Phantom asked. "We make them look like amateurs."

The absolutely emotionless tone he employed made the statement rather unsettling.

"Oh, he's just messing with you." Fighter quipped. "I mean, sure, the law doesn't kid around, but people here also actually bother raising their kids properly."

"Oh? I wasn't sure what to think." Lan quipped back. "For a moment I wondered if people here were born naturally or in glass tubes."

"Oh, a little bit of A, and a little bit of B." Fighter replied. "Of course since this place is basically one huge permanent nerd convention, whether or not most of them bother with it or know how to do it is another story entirely."

"Workaholics much?" Lan asked.

"Heh. I knew I liked you kid." Fighter retorted with a snort. Of the four Agents Lan had met, he was definitely the one most prone to childish behavior and slightly unprofessional antics. He also had the biggest mouth of the four, in Lan's opinion.

"Why do we put up with you, I wonder..." Fairy muttered under her breath.

"Because someone has to keep you lot from acting like goddamn robots all the time?" Fighter shot back.

Phantom sighed loudly.

"Enough. We are almost there."

In a couple of minutes the car pulled up next to a strange structure in the center of the inner circle. It looked like a circular tower flanked by a pair of secondary structures shaped like colossal needles. At the top of the tower, Lan could see what looked like a flat platform.

The doors opened and everyone exited the car. Phantom left it parked at the exact same spot, and to Lan's surprise nobody seemed to take issue with it.

"So where exactly are we?" Hub asked with curiosity.

"Where it all started." Phantom said enigmatically as he led them to the main glass door. Whether by facial recognition or some other method, it seemed to identify the entourage and opened silently, closing again behind them.

The group came across an ample reception area, but something seemed amiss. From the counter to the adjoining corridors, the building seemed deserted.

"What's going on here?" Lan asked. "Where is everyone?"

Phantom sighed again, but this time there was a hint of emotion in his voice.

"My boy, this place has not been used in a long time." he said, with what sounded like regret and anticipation in equal measure.

"Huh?"

"Just follow us. You'll find out everything soon… and then you will probably wish you hadn't."

The Agents led the trio to an elevator, and to their surprise, Phantom punched in a sequence of numbers on a keypad in the control panel. Instead of going up as they would have expected, instead the elevator began descending, past the few basement levels on display and into another floor that was not shown on the list.

Lan and Hub exchanged silent glances, not knowing what to make of this, and then the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened.

Before them was an unassuming hallway, with what looked like reinforced walls. At the end of it was a massive metal door, like one would expect to find in a bomb shelter. However, before the Agents needed to do anything, it turned inward, seemingly on its own.

Silently they advanced, until they arrived at a different door, this one also made of metal, but with a different construction, slimmer and more elegant. Sensing their presence, or perhaps detecting it through some hidden cameras, it split in two and retracted into the walls, revealing a strange chamber.

"Welcome, colleagues and esteemed guests." Sage said, looking rather solemn. "Thank you for coming in this time of crisis as requested."

Lan and Hub blinked and exchanged glances again.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" Lan asked. "What's with all the secrecy and theatrics? What is this place?"

"It is not my place to say that… Commander." Sage replied, saluting like Phantom had before. His choice of words only added to the brothers' confusion.

"Will someone here care to speak plainly?" Lan asked, getting somewhat frustrated at this point.

"We have brought you here to meet with the esteemed high representatives of our nation." Phantom said rather reverently, taking the lead and opening a final door at the end of the chamber. "They whose voice carries the power of veto and whose hands will trace the path to the future, keeping us grounded in our ethical foundation. The Imperative and the Affirmative."

In the room ahead they saw a massive array of monitors and a large desk where two or more people could easily work unhindered. At the center of the room was a large metal chair, which started turning slowly as they approached. They were definitely not expecting to find who they did sitting on it.

Ten hours prior…

With the house in lockdown, a tense discussion was taking place in the basement.

"These terms are non-negotiable." Phantom said. "We are facing an international, possibly global crisis. Communications are down on a worldwide scale. Our standing orders are very clear about this."

Cadmus glared daggers at him from his chair, finishing the coffee mug in his hand and setting it down before replying.

"People are dying on the streets." he shot back bitterly. "Do you expect us to sit in around doing nothing when we might be able to help at least mitigate the situation?"

"And what exactly do you propose to do from here?" Phantom argued back in his characteristic emotionless tone. "You have no communications, no public transportation, pandemonium outside and obstructed roads. Even if you made it to SciLab unharmed, and even if you did find a solution, how would you implement it?"

"You seem to forget that I was the first organic test subject for the nanites..." Cadmus began to protest.

"Which you designed primarily as a health monitoring and safeguard system and a Cyberworld interface, not a combat augmentation." Phantom pointed out. "Those rampaging robots are wielding all sorts of construction equipment that they could use to lethal potential, and if the last incident was any indication, we can and should expect them to also turn up with actual weapons. Need I remind you that you would also be endangering yourself pointlessly and causing grief to those around you?"

"So what exactly would you propose?" Ciel intervened, trying to find a middle ground. "I don't like the idea of just sitting here either, but we need a plan we can actually act on."

"As I said, our standing orders are clear." Phantom repeated. "We must return to base, and you must come with us."

"Why?" Cadmus asked.

"I am not at liberty to divulge at the present time." Phantom replied in his usual tone, which Cadmus was finding rather infuriating at the moment. "However..." he continued, before the increasingly frustrated scientist could cut in. "I can promise you this much. We have tools that you are not aware of. Tools that will be invaluable in dealing with this crisis and preventing future ones. But you will not be able to make use of them from here. Hence, you need to come with us."

Fairy sighed, knowing that her colleague's answers were not exactly reassuring. Of the four, she had become the most attached to this unusual group, and she looked clearly uncomfortable with the tense exchange. Silently wondering if she was going soft, she finally intervened.

"Look… We don't like withholding information any more than you like not being given the full picture. Well, maybe Phantom does like it with all his need-to-know crap, but he's a dick anyway."

Her candor was both welcome and unexpected, and despite the circumstances, both scientists ended up cracking a very slight smile.

"Sometimes I get the feeling he thinks he's a ninja or an international super spy." she continued. "But I can promise you this. When we get you to your destination you will have all the answers you want. Either from our supervisor or from me."

"This entire situation is bullshit." Zero growled. "Even with the last round of upgrades, we are effectively stuck since we don't have anything here we can use to put up an effective fight. I wish we could carry over my weapons from the Cyberworld, but how? I'm not about to flood the area with that dimension warping radiation just for that."

"Then you see why we need to take a different approach." Phantom insisted. "Our own weapons are not up to this. They were designed for dealing primarily with organic or lightly armored targets and we cannot realistically take on this kind of opposition in their current numbers."

Cadmus sighed, fighting off a headache. The world was going to hell, the streets were in chaos, and he was completely cut off from everyone else and unable to know if they were all right. Gallant had been away visiting Rose and Peach when the whole mess started, Lan was probably in SciLab or with his friends, and everyone else was unreachable. The feeling of powerlessness was eating away at him, and he was not going to just sit down doing nothing.

"Assuming we do that, will you be able to get us there in one piece?" he pointed out. "No communications also means no radar, no GPS navigation, and so on."

"We don't need any of those things." Phantom pointed out. "Or have you forgotten that our technology is always a few steps ahead of the rest of the world? We have all the digital map data we need to get you home safely."

Cadmus and Ciel exchanged glances and after a moment they both sighed.

"Fine." Ciel conceded. "But we're taking one more person with us."

She then stuck her head out of the room.

"Alouette!"

"Yes?"

"We're going on a little trip. Pack what you need for a couple of days, but hurry."

"Oui mama!"

Fifteen minutes later the four were being escorted by Fairy and Phantom in an embassy vehicle. With a heavy heart they watched the chaos on the streets. Zero quickly covered Alouette's eyes and Ciel held her tightly. Nobody said a word until they arrived at their destination, but Cadmus and Zero were both fuming on the inside as they watched the wanton destruction. They had been calling the city their home for months, and while they did not know if and when they would be able to return, they took the view as an incentive to keep pushing on and do something about the situation.

"Stay safe out there Gallant..." Cadmus thought. "Wherever you are."

As Neo Atlantis did not have a formal embassy in the city, the Agents had made arrangements with Princess Pride to borrow some storage space in her own country's. About thirty minutes weaving between abandoned cars and running over a rampaging robot here and there, they arrived at the embassy and made their way to the roof. The building was deserted, the staff likely having evacuated the premises or taken refuge in some kind of panic room. As they arrived at the helipad on the roof, they found Fighter and Sage waiting for them.

"Is that one of the MLE VTOL prototypes?" Ciel asked, noticing the machine behind him.

Sage nodded.

"We do get the first pick of a lot of these things. I will not ask if you had a pleasant trip as the look on your faces says it all, but I will try to get you where you need at top speed."

"Thank you." Ciel said, still feeling pretty downcast after what she had seen on the way there.

"Wait, what's that noise?" Zero interrupted.

They turned around and realized that a group of robots had made it into the building and were about to enter the helipad. Unlike the models they had seen on the streets, they seemed to have stolen several pistols, likely from the security staff's armory downstairs.

As the Agents prepared to do their job, drawing their monomolecular cutters and firearms of their own, however, something unexpected happened.

"Do you really have time to waste with something like this?" a voice cut in.

Across the rooftop, another figure appeared, wearing a full white suit, from the shoes to the hooded long coat and gloves. For some reason, try as they might, nobody could see underneath the hood, as if it was filled with mist or a fathomless void.

"Who are you?" Ciel asked, feeling a strange sense of vertigo in the stranger's presence, which only intensified as she felt its gaze upon her, even though she could not see its eyes. Apparently she was not the only one, as Cadmus also seemed to suddenly struggle to stay focused.

"That is irrelevant to the situation at hand." the figure replied dismissively. There was something unnatural about its voice, though neither of them could accurately describe it. All they knew was that there was something not quite right about it.

"And what do you propose to do all by yourself?" Cadmus contested.

"Do not concern yourself with me." the figure retorted. "Focus on your own safety."

While the figure seemed to walk over the rooftop much like a person would, there was something strange about its movement. As the robots raised their pistols, the figure suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight and then was suddenly right in front of them. Before anyone could say anything or intervene, it swept its arm and the robots fell to pieces as if sliced by an invisible blade.

"What are you?" Zero asked, verbalizing what everyone else was thinking.

The sound of more metallic footsteps echoed in the staircase below.

"No more questions!" the figure roared. "Just go!"

The others could see something else underneath the hood momentarily. Some kind of glow like that of a distant flame. Not wanting to waste more time, they complied, with Sage getting in the pilot's seat and everyone else taking their places in the back.

As the machine took off, they saw the figure again, barreling into the new group of robots with its body glowing white as if aflame.

"What the hell was that?!" Zero asked once they were fully out of range.

"I have no idea..." Cadmus finally said. "But I think I remember hearing something from Lan about this. He said there was someone looking for us. Someone who looked exactly like that."

"Dodged a bullet on that one then." Zero remarked.

"Not necessarily." Ciel chimed in. "There was definitely something strange about that… person… but… I don't think they meant us any harm."

"Agreed. They did cover our retreat." Cadmus added. "But there's definitely something off about them. I can't put it into words, though."

The rest of the trip was uneventful, but once they reached the island proper, Cadmus, Ciel and Zero exchanged glances.

"We're not going to the airport, are we?" Zero asked, noticing the direction they were taking. "Where are we going?"

"You will see." Fairy replied, getting visibly tired of all the cloak and dagger act.

Eventually they landed at a secluded landing pad very close to the center ring and took the same route Lan and the others would eventually take several hours later.

"This place..." Cadmus said, freezing in his tracks as their car stopped in front of the building.

"Yes." Phantom said as the Agents stepped out of the car and ushered them out.

"The Sanctum of the Founders?!" Ciel asked incredulously. "What are we doing here? This place has been abandoned for years."

"Or so they would have everyone believe." a voice intervened. Cadmus and Ciel turned and saw the last person they would have expected to find there.

"Mom?" Ciel called out. "What are you doing here?"

Standing before them, wearing a labcoat and a pair of thick rimmed glasses, was a woman bearing a striking resemblance to Ciel, only clearly a couple of decades older, with a long golden braid that snaked around her neck several times, and with specks of golden in her eyes, an unusually looking and extremely rare genetic quirk.

Cadmus stared at her and blinked.

"Has it really been so long since that first day of college?" he thought out loud.

"Indeed it has, Cadmus." she said, giving him a sad smile. "I have not seen you two as often as I would like, but I'm glad you're both in good health. I only wish our reunion would have come at a happier time. We have much to talk about."

There was something about her voice and smile that seemed wrong.

"Mom?" Ciel asked. "What's wrong? Why are you looking so sad?"

"Because I have wronged you both in different ways." she finally replied with a sigh. "And this day may well mark the end of any chance one or both of you might have at leading a normal life."

"Dr. Lune…" Phantom started to say. "You have done a great service to the na-"

"The nation can sink under the sea like Old Atlantis for all I care right now!" she snapped, in a sudden bout of fury. "Your pacts and your schemes… your damned obsession with continuity! I should have told them everything from the start, and one way or another, they will know everything before this day is done! I am only here right now because they mean the world to me and I'm tired of all the stupid little secrets! But this is not the place. Follow me."

And with that, she stormed into the building, leaving Cadmus, Ciel, Zero and Alouette at a loss for words.

"Why is Grandmaman so mad?" Alouette finally asked in hushed tones.

"I don't know." Ciel confessed. "But I intend to find out."

Phantom sighed and lowered his head.

"I should have expected this." he muttered to himself, showing another rare hint of emotion.

The group followed Ciel's mother into the building and found her in front of the lobby elevator. Whatever security measures were in place seemed to recognize her, as she had no issue gaining access.

"How did you do that?" Ciel asked.

"I guess they didn't bother telling you that either." Lune said with a heavy sigh. "A long time ago, I used to work here."

Somehow fitting everyone into the ample elevator, they watched as she reached for the control panel. Ciel did not take her eyes off her mother as she first placed a hand on the cold metal, staring at it for a moment as if reminiscing about a different time, and then entering a code on the keypad further down.

The elevator doors closed and they were soon taken to a hidden basement level, beyond the floors shown on the panel. The doors opened, revealing an old structure, reinforced much like a bunker. As they stepped inside, decades old air purification and filtration systems came to life and began to drain the stale atmosphere within.

Lune led them through the remaining doors, until they were standing inside an ample chamber with a large metal chair standing in the center, facing a wall lined with monitors and a large desk where two or more people could easily work at the same time unhindered. To the sides were other desks covered with aging computer equipment, dusty paper notes and assorted office supplies, while a door on each side led to rooms further beyond.

Lune stood between the large desk and the chair, but did not sit down. Instead she stared at the largest of the screens in the center and clenched her fists.

"I know you can hear me you bastard." she growled. "Show yourself, Nur-Ab-Sal!"

The mention of the name sent Cadmus, Ciel and Zero into a stunned silence.

Nur-Ab-Sal had been the supposedly rampant AI which, reportedly corrupted by a virus, had caused much havoc in Neo Atlantis a few years prior. This confrontation had been responsible for Cadmus and Ciel first cutting their teeth at Net Battling, and for Gallant's injuries, which had resulted in his spending years in storage with limited hope for recovery before Revan's underhanded intervention.

Neither of them had ever expected to hear that name again, but as the monitors turned on, flooded with an eerie teal light, the shape of a spiral formed in the center monitor, before being shortly framed by a stylized mask evoking a humanoid creature that looked like a cross between a bull and a fish.

"You!" Cadmus spat, his voice oozing venom.

"Your reaction is understandable, child." the being on the monitor said with an unsettling calm, as if had rehearsed its speech a thousand times. "But there is much you do not know, much you have not been told, and I have been waiting longer than you realize. Waiting for you."

"Only because you're a stupid over-engineered personal assistant who is overly fond of convoluted plans!" Lune spat, her voice containing every bit as much venom.

"Mom?" Ciel called out. "What's going on here?"

"The rogue AI you destroyed at so much cost?" Lune fumed. "It was not him, no, but it was an extension of him. An old sub-system that should never have been created, which eventually gained a life of its own and thought itself the real thing. And this asshole here..."

She paused, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

"Yes… Your anger is justified." the AI interrupted. "I have caused everyone present here much undue grief, and I do not expect this to be forgotten overnight. I failed to stop that rogue program, just as I failed to protect my makers. I do not expect your forgiveness, but I hope that when I am done you will understand."

"Speak then." Cadmus retorted, his hands shaking. "But make it quick. The frailty of my time as a baseline human is past, and right now I am restraining myself to avoid seeing just how much damage my augmentations can do to your hardware."

"The official records tell that the nation of Neo Atlantis was founded by three exceptional individuals from different fields of expertise who banded together to create something new. A haven for science and progress unhindered by the bitter conflicts, rivalries and corruption that plague the rest of the world. Said records, however, are remiss in mentioning their names. They are also incorrect. While the three were pivotal in the founding, there were others around them who made comparable contributions. Colleagues, assistants, sponsors. As for the three themselves, I knew them. They were my creators, and they gave me my first directives. There are at least two other people present in this room who either knew them or have a connection to them."

"Thaddeus Atreides." Lune cut in. "Sergei Dragunov. Toshiro Yagami-Dyson. A physicist, a robotics engineer and a programmer. The three of them first met at an academic convention forty years ago and hit it off right away. Others came along later. Nuri Verma, a social studies professor and psychologist Anselm Garamond, a brilliant architect and painter. They laid the foundations."

"And there were two more, whose influence cannot be underplayed." The AI cut in. "Two students who started out as Thaddeus' pupils, and after they had graduated and the designs were set in motion, followed them here to lend their assistance."

"Enough, machine." Lune cut in again. "They arrived here after the main groundwork for the foundation was finished and preliminary drafts were being evaluated. Brigitte Chevalier… and me."

"You… worked as an assistant to the Founders?" Ciel asked, blinking. "Why did you never mention that?"

"You will find out soon enough." Lune continued. "And I'd rather you hear it from me than from some cretin AI. Brigitte and I met in high school and we ended up at the same university years later. I studied applied chemistry and molecular biology, while she had more of a taste for the humanities."

After another deep breath to steady herself, she continued, her expression betraying the emotional weight attached to such memories.

"She ended up graduating at history and anthropology and the prospect of watching a new nation being born was too much for her to resist. Yes, at one time we were both pupils of Thaddeus since there was a period in our lives when we were a little lost and tried different disciplines to see which would pique our interest. For a physicist, Thaddeus was one of the most sensitive people I have ever met in my life. He had a multitude of hobbies, but his favorites were painting and the violin. While we did not stay at his class for longer than a semester, we did end up bonding during that time, and meeting with him regularly for meals or conversation over a cup of tea even after that. Even though his work was outside our areas of expertise, we still followed it with interest. After we graduated, he was quiet for a while, and then we realized what he was up to."

"So you're saying..." Cadmus muttered, tears welling up in his eyes. "That not only I did have a family, but you knew them? And you never told me about it?"

"Well, they're not here now." Lune pointed out, sand and clearly feeling guilty about her omission. "What does that tell you?"

"That things ended badly?" Ciel asked.

Lune nodded and smiled sadly as she focused her gaze on Cadmus.

"When we met on your first day at the university… "Lune began to explain. "I recognized you right away. I didn't want to tell you what I know because some of the memories are too horrible to dwell on. Your family and their colleagues… they were all great people. They deserved better than having something so random and stupid happen to them."

"What are you talking about?" Cadmus asked, staring at her right in the eyes. She recoiled, starting to feel the moisture pooling in hers as well.

"The first five years were full of hard work but also wonder and discovery. Much like what happens with new volcanic islands, new life sprung up in unexpected places. We brought some in from the mainland as well, but we did not want to repeat some of the mistakes of previous colonization efforts. Even as the city sprang up, portions of the island in and around it were blossoming. We also found some ancient stone fragments during the construction work. We did not realize it at the time, but the efforts to raise portions of the seabed also uncovered some very ancient ruins. More scientists started coming in from across the world, drawn by the novelty, and ended up staying."

"The Founders and their companions continued their work." the AI continued as Lune seemed to be taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. It seemed that the memories were starting to affect her.

"Within the first decade, we had living space, research facilities." the AI explained further. "We were self-sufficient. I was not fully formed at the time but the rudimentary aspects of my programming were in place. I still have the reports from that time stored somewhere. No one could have predicted what happened later. Though I should have. First Dr. Dragunov became seriously ill. While he was recovering, there was an incident."

"You are skipping ahead, machine." Lune interrupted again. "See what I mean about convoluted crap? Tell them about Thaddeus. Or I will."

"Very well. Eventually Thaddeus and Brigitte realized that their proximity went beyond the boundaries of the strictly platonic. Though I was still not fully cognizant at the time, the surviving recordings show that it was a joyous occasion for all the involved parties. At this point the Founders and their companions were for all intents and purposes like a family, and while data on the following months is scarce, I do know that the occasion was much celebrated, perhaps excessively so by some."

By the twitch in her mother's eye, Ciel had the feeling that that particular topic was best left untouched.

"Moving on..." Ciel intervened. "What happened after that?"

"Feeling the years catching up, Nuri retired the following year." Lune continued. "She lived just long enough to watch the first child on this island being born. A boy, named after an ancient Greek mythological figure, a hero-king known for founding a new realm and seeking knowledge for the good of his people."

Cadmus felt a knot in his stomach at those words.

"Do not grieve for her." Lune said, though she was clearly moved by the recollection as well. "She died happy, knowing the future was in motion. What happened later though..."

"At the point the next series of events unfolded, I was fully operational and working as the Founders' research assistant, record keeper and occasional secretary." the AI continued. "Supposedly Drs. Dragunov and Yagami-Dyson uncovered some exceedingly old archaeology journals at a thrift store and named me after some mythical king of Old Atlantis. I was present for your first birthday, Cadmus… but things began to take a very disturbing direction not long after."

"Anselm disappeared one day and his body was found washed up on a beach a week later." Lune continued, trying to press on despite her discomfort. "To this day we still don't know exactly what happened, but some say he fell while inspecting one of his projects while others say he received a letter the previous day that had left him deeply disturbed. Sergei became violently ill two months later. The doctors said it was due to long term exposure to toxic materials during his robotics experiments. While he recovered, Thaddeus and Brigitte took you with them and left to inspect a prototype energy reactor under testing at an offshore platform. Toshiro and I arrived later on the scene… I'm sorry but… I can't continue..."

The AI once again took over.

"Logs recovered from the facility are unclear as to some of the exact details as the machines responsible for collecting them were irreparably damaged in the incident that ensured, but some elements have been thoroughly corroborated with near 100% certainty. The prototype fusion reactor, though in itself free from harmful emissions in its standard operating protocol, was somehow flawed, and this was not detected by the first or second round of inspections. When activated for its test run, it suffered a catastrophic malfunction, destroying not only a good portion of the test chamber but also some of the platform's support structure. Violently toxic chemicals and some radioactive materials were also released, which rendered the entire area extremely hazardous. Emergency supplies on site proved… lacking. While there were oxygen masks, and generic fist aid and fire prevention materials, the toxins and radiation proved most lethal. Both the First Founder and his wife perished within hours, and their heir was in critical condition for an extended period. Later analysis revealed that several components for the prototype reactor had been manufactured below acceptable quality standards by the contractor company, using unauthorized materials as a replacement for the correct ones in an attempt to embezzle the difference."

Getting visibly annoyed by the AI's detached, mechanical exposition, Lune cut in once again.

"When we arrived, Brigitte had stowed you into a decontamination chamber with an oxygen mask. It was the safest place in the entire platform, all things considered. She knew she was done for, and stayed outside. To this day, I'm still not sure how you survived. All I know is that we had to develop some rather forceful emergency treatments. You were damaged on a cellular level. We had to collect stem cell samples from other sources just to get you stabilized, and you had to spend months in a regenerative bath. Sergei and Toshiro even donated DNA samples in hopes of helping. You were so tiny, so broken..."

Cadmus felt a chill down his spine as he recalled some of the strange dreams he had been having. Even after speaking with Rose, he had not considered the possibility of them containing old memories. It seemed impossible to him that he would have any recollection of events from such an early age, no matter how deeply buried.

"So the fact that I'm standing here today was thanks to you then?" he managed to ask, his mind still struggling to process everything.

"Yes… but the struggle and the loss of your parents took a heavy toll on the remaining Founders… and on me." Lune explained, finally giving up and sitting at the base of the large chair.

"Between his health problems and the shock, Sergei would not live to see another year. Toshiro fell into a deep depression and locked himself in his apartment. He would refuse to eat, or speak to anyone. I burned the candle at both ends until you had recovered, but after that I just didn't have the strength to do more. I pulled some strings here and there and helped set up a foundation that would look after you, and checked myself in at a clinic in the mainland. When I came back months later, I found out that Toshiro had… ended himself. I was floored and blamed myself for not being around… and that was the start of another three years in intensive therapy away from all this."

"As the former assistant to the Founders, I still had some connections and authority." the AI added. "Therefore I took over supervisory duties for the upbringing of their child. I sought talented and dedicated individuals to ensure his proper development. I chose… poorly."

"He needed a family, not a bunch of state workers, no matter how good!" Lune fumed. "I would have taken him in myself if I wasn't such a wreck. I stayed away out of guilt until that day at the university… and then I knew I had made a terrible mistake. He was bright, yes, and morally upright, but you could tell right away how retracted he was, how emotionally starved. He looked more like a robot than a boy!"

She then turned to Cadmus.

"And now you know. And I hope you can forgive me."

"I wouldn't be here today if not for you." Cadmus replied, tears flowing freely. "But I do wish you had told me. So many years, feeling alone in the world. Yes, those events were horrible, but hearing them was still better than not knowing. Than thinking I was this thing that had sprouted out of a hole in the ground or a test tube… or been thrown away unwanted."

"I had no idea how badly that machine would mess up." Lune said, downcast. "You deserved better, and I should have had the courage to step up… or at least tell you everything up front."

"Those were… difficult years." Cadmus recalled, looking like he was gazing at something far away. "I was always considered industrious and bright, but there was a gaping void inside me, and I did not even realize it. I had no attachments, and no notion of the concept, and my life before that point had been focused on books, learning, working the mind. Not a shred of emotional comfort. I was at home between four walls, and that was all I thought I would ever need. I could barely even speak to strangers or find the energy to spend time outside."

"When I saw you again after all those years, I knew right away there was something broken in you." Lune said with grief. "Out of shame for what my silence had enabled, I did not speak up."

"But then something happened." Cadmus pointed out, looking at Ciel. "Something nobody could have predicted."

"I remember that day well." Ciel said. "My… peculiarities made me shy and retracted, though not to the same degree. Despite my mother's encouragement, I still felt like I was a bit out of my depth, and too overwhelmed by it all. I knew that was what I wanted to do with my life, but still felt lost. Everything was so new to me. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life clinging to my mother's legs, and I was about to take the first steps into something new, so I pushed myself. And who would I have decided to ask for directions but the older boy who was as lost as me?"

"The best way I can describe it is as if up to that point the world had been in dull shades of gray." Cadmus reminisced. "And then suddenly somebody lit a candle and the flame turned into a beacon of warmth and color. For months afterwards, the light of the flame kept spreading, filtering into everything around it, and that was when I realized what I had been living without for so long… and fell ill beyond my ability to describe. The shock of awakening. And despite my protests, you did not let me go through it alone."

"Neither of us was particularly normal." Ciel said with a smile as she fondly recalled. "You emotionally stunted and I deathly shy. But that meeting was the turning point. Together we slowly realized there was more to life than books and theorems. We picked up a taste for sweets, video games, art and a million other things."

Cadmus then paused, catching his breath, and glared at the screen.

"But there is one last thing I must know, and you WILL answer truthfully. You've been manipulating my life since before I was old enough to have coherent thoughts. Ciel's so-called adverse reaction. Did this have your finger on it? Did you plan that too?"

"I did not." the AI said, projecting as much firmness into its voice as its emotionless shell could. "That was a most unfortunate incident, and I launched a thorough investigation to ensure it never happened again. I stopped directly interfering in your life when you were old enough to make your own decisions, unless there was a direct and imminent threat to your safety."

"So you're not completely malicious. Just incredibly incompetent." Zero spat. "Gotcha."

Cadmus sighed and planted his hands on the desk for support, feeling his strength drained by the successive bouts of emotional outbursts.

"Unbelievable..." he muttered, letting out a weary sigh.

Zero shook his head and scowled like he'd just had a whole lemon shoved down his throat.

"That's all pretty messed up… to say the least. I knew there was something off about you at times, but this… I guess this stupid computer has never heard of a fucking therapist. Or common sense. Or basic empathy."

"I don't think this could have been fixed by a mere therapist. Not alone. It wasn't all bad though..." Cadmus managed to say, wiping his eyes. "I was too young to remember what happened to my family, and yes, my upbringing was rather lacking… But I wouldn't have met Ciel or you if not for it. I might never have followed this path, worked together with you all, traveled the world, even rubbed shoulders with some living legends. For all that, I am grateful. Yes, I'm messed up, damaged goods even, but I have a family now, unconventional though it may be."

"I don't suppose this would be a good time to tell your mother about Gallant and Alouette?" Zero discreetly murmured to Ciel.

For her part, she just blinked, turned a few shades of pink and shook her head.

"I think this is too much for one day..." she murmured back.

"It's not over yet though…" Cadmus intervened. "Is it?"

He then stared at the central monitor.

"You have just finished untangling twenty three years' worth of pain, misery and convoluted history. I imagine you did not do all that just for my benefit, did you? Why did you have those four drag me here in the middle of all this? What do you want from me?"

The AI paused for a moment, as if hesitant, and then spoke again.

"Since those days I have been running endless simulations and projections in my systems while the nation is in self-management with the Council and the Departments." the AI said. "But these are uncertain times, and the future ahead even more. The Council's priorities are beginning to drift out of focus, and I fear that without a strong central authority the entire nation may eventually lose its purpose, head down a dark path… or cease to be entirely. I am merely an artificial construct. While my input is still taken into consideration, I lack the physical form or the human understanding to take a direct role. You do not. You are the only heir of the original Founders. Their legacy lives in you. I will not be around forever, and though mistakes were made… especially on my part… I still believe that you have what it takes to keep the spirit of the Founders alive."

"And yet by your own admission, you understand nothing about how humans think and feel!" Zero cut in with a growl. "I was created as a goddamn computer virus, and I have a better understanding than you, Mr. Genius Computer. You fucked up. Badly. And now you expect Cadmus here to just throw away all his own plans and goals to follow your script? You've done nothing to earn his trust or ours. Quite the contrary."

Most of those present in the room were definitely surprised. They had never known Zero to be so vocal and emotional most of the time, but the situation at hand seemed to have struck deeply. The truth of the matter was, he was absolutely furious that someone's entire life would be decided by someone else behind their backs. Though Zero had been able to overcome his resentment surrounding the circumstances of his creation, he had most definitely not forgotten.

Ciel and the twins had been the ones to witness most of his rare emotional outbursts, and even she was a bit shaken by his fury, even though she shared the sentiments of confusion and outrage. He was usually the most reserved and collected of the trio, but at the moment he looked as if he might suddenly jump on the desk and punch the monitor. The air in the room overall was so heavy and emotionally charged, it would not have been a stretch if the monitor showing the AI's infuriatingly impassive face suddenly exploded.

"This is not something that should be decided simply by lineage!" Cadmus protested. "The responsibility is too great and history has shown us what happens when blood is valued higher than competence or human decency."

"And yet, you are the best equipped to handle this responsibility." Nur-Ab-Sal pointed out. "Not merely by virtue of your parentage, but also from your academic training and life experience… the vast majority of which you picked without any interference on my part. After your formative years were done and you reached the appropriate age, I refrained from further interference and simply observed unless there was a direct threat to your safety. You know how precious and fragile human life is, how it must be safeguarded. Without proper guidance, Neo Atlantis could easily devolve into a cold, sterile place where advancement at any price will be the law, or disintegrate altogether and release all this advanced technology into a world that is not prepared for it."

"I will not be a dictator!" Cadmus roared.

"We do not ask you to become one. This is, after all, a meritocracy." Nur-Ab-Sal replied. "Only a guide, a planner, a presence with power of veto, to help trace the path to the future and keep the nation on the right track."

"I am unfit for this purpose." Cadmus protested, sweeping his arm for emphasis. "You've watched me from birth. You know this. Socially stunted, borderline workaholic, emotionally unstable. Do you think the Founders would have wanted this? An appointment based on genetics and not on competence?"

"My analysis is conclusive. There is no one else."

"You are wrong. There is another."

With tears in his eyes, Cadmus turned to Ciel and took a knee.

"You are the best of us all." he said, emotion warping his voice. "The kindest soul I have ever met, paired with tremendous intellect and the restraint to keep others from burning themselves out. If anyone in this room is fit to lead us all, that would be you."

Pleadingly, he took her hand and lightly squeezed it, cradling it in his own before continuing.

"I cannot trust myself to do this, and you have shown time and again that you have the potential and the heart to lead us into a glorious tomorrow. Will you claim your place and allow me to keep supporting you, as I have until now?"

Ciel shook her head and gave him a sad look.

"I cannot do that." she said. "I'm tremendously flattered that you would think so highly of me, but the magnitude of such responsibility terrifies me as much as it does you. No one should have to bear this burden."

She then inhaled sharply and pulled him back up.

"Do not debase yourself so." she chastised him, looking even sadder. "I do not know where all this loathing stems from, but I do wish you would show yourself the same kindness you have always shown me. Why do you treat yourself like this?"

"Because all that is good and pure in my life comes from you." Cadmus managed to say, on the verge of a full breakdown. "Before you there was a gaping void, and the thought of losing you was enough to drive me to the brink before."

Ciel's eyes widened in surprise as old memories flashed before her eyes.

"You're still thinking about that time?"

"Always." he said, his voice cracking as the self-loathing started seeping in. "I must sound pretty stupid and panicky, falling into such sheer terror after something that turned out to be a simple adverse reaction to a defective vaccine batch, but I swore to myself that I would not lose you to something so stupid and random, even if I had to create a shield for you with my own two hands."

"Unity..." Ciel muttered, eyes wide. "The infusions, the new world without death… That's where the drive for it all came from..."

"Yes..." Cadmus muttered, looking utterly broken. "You must think me a wretched thing, playing with the natural laws simply because I was too much of a coward to bear the thought of a world you were not a part of."

"But why?" Ciel asked, still not recoiling despite everything.

"Because the fool's heart only has a place for you." Zero cut in. "As does mine."

Ciel felt a weakness in her legs, and tried to reach out for support. Both Cadmus and Zero rushed in to help her, and she just stood there, stunned, dazed and at a loss for words, her cheeks flaring red to the point where her entire face seemed to light up. Meanwhile, Lune just watched, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Sorry, but I couldn't stay quiet about this and watch you self-destruct any longer." Zero remarked, giving Cadmus a harsh stare. "She had the right to know, and all of us have the right to closure already, no matter which way this goes. You tried to act like a gentleman about it, wait until we were all on equal footing, but it's long past time the truth came out. I was starting to think you would be dodging the issue indefinitely."

"Maybe it would have been better if I had given up and you had taken her away from all this." Cadmus pondered, fighting back tears.

"Dude, seriously?" Zero retorted. "That would have killed you. I've been hanging around you guys long enough to know that. But I know enough about your upbringing to tell you that your life was pretty fucked up from the start, so I won't hold your bout of spouting nonsense against you. This time."

"Yes..." Cadmus remarked bitterly. "First an orphan without any recollection of my origin, then emotionally stunted from being raised by well-meaning people who were utterly clueless about children. I was damaged goods from the start."

Cadmus then turned to Ciel, who seemed to still be processing everything she had just heard.

"I guess it was inevitable that I would latch on to the first person I was able to bond with. And when that person is an adorable, and equally lost genius child..."

"Definitely not a child anymore." Ciel snapped, looking deeply hurt. "And I do wish you had said something sooner. The fact that you felt you couldn't be honest with me cuts deep."

Cadmus sighed and looked right at her.

"I know. I have no excuse. Which is why what I need to do next is perfectly clear."

He then turned around to face the oversized screen and Nur-Ab-Sal's infuriatingly impassive mask.

"I'll do it. I will take my birthright and fulfill my responsibility. I will lead the nation into the future… and free Ciel from the burden of dealing with an incomplete human be-"

"No." Ciel cut in.

"What?" Cadmus asked, now the one confused for a change.

"I can't pretend to fully understand what goes on in that head of yours… Not after all I've just heard." Ciel said, tears flowing down her face. "But I have seen enough of you over the years to know that taking this on alone would kill you. You would be damning yourself to a life of solitude, working alone and out of sight for the rest of your days, driving yourself to inhuman exertions until you burned out, and I cannot let you do that to yourself. Yes, you have your flaws, some of which are frankly infuriating, but I can't let that heart of yours be smashed to pieces and scattered in the wind. You are so much better than you think you are, and it's tragic that you refuse to see it. But you will see it, no matter how much you protest and fight it."

"What are you saying?" Cadmus asked, this time around being the one caught completely off guard.

"I'm saying that I'm signing up for this not-so-little project." Ciel proclaimed, pinning him in place with a firm stare. "But on a decent set of terms. You are not taking this on alone, and you are not relegating yourself to being a mere assistant. As with all our other projects, we're going into this on an equal partnership. Furthermore, there will be no more secrets, no more pushing yourself beyond human limits, and no more reckless self-endangerment."

"I… uh… can find no objection about those terms..." Cadmus stuttered, looking like his brain had completely derailed at this point.

"You do realize what you're getting into, right?" Zero quipped, flashing a grin. "A full time partnership that will last as long as you do. That almost sounds like a-"

"Hush, you." Ciel cut in with a raised finger, her cheeks visibly flaring again. "And don't think you're off the hook either. I am still very cross with both of you for keeping something like this from me for so long, and I will still need to decide how you're going make it up to me in full."

"Did you just..." Cadmus started.

"… crack a joke about it?" Zero finished.

"Hush, both of you." Ciel retorted, looking even more flustered. "Given the present circumstances, we need to take executive action NOW. However, as soon as this crisis is over, I expect the first part of my compensation."

"Which would be?" Zero asked, starting to get a little scared.

"Twenty scoops of strawberry ice cream." Ciel said with a steely glare. "To be enjoyed by the three of us, TOGETHER, outside, with no lab work, no phone calls, and no crisis response to interrupt. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Zero said.

"Perfectly clear." Cadmus added.

"Good." she said, her expression visibly softening. "The first step to resolving a situation is healthy communication, and we'll have plenty of time to sort ourselves out together."

Then she opened her arms.

"Now get over here and give me a hug you dumbasses. You should know better than getting me this worked up."

As they approached to do just that, she grabbed them by surprise and squeezed them with surprising strength for someone her size.

"What am I going to do with you two?" she muttered, her voice still charged with raw emotion.

They stayed that way for what felt like an eternity, until the silence was finally broken.

"That first day set more things in motion than either of us realized." Cadmus whispered, finally settling down. "First I learned to cry. Then I learned to laugh… and then… I learned to..."

"And then you learned to keep dumb secrets from your best friend." Ciel scolded, though at this point she seemed less shocked and more flustered, and her tone had lost its edge completely.

"The age gap was still there. It was grossly inappropriate." he pointed out, cheeks ablaze. "I didn't want to get you grossed out and lose the only friend I had. I wasn't even aware of it for a considerable amount of time, and when I finally connected the dots and it hit me like a train, I guess I panicked. What exactly were my options? Start avoiding you? Somehow tear that feeling from my chest after it took me so long to know how to feel at all? So I did the only thing I could. I buried it inside as deep as I could, and hoped to keep it buried until I found a way to overcome it. I guess I did not do a very good job, since it still ended up influencing my decisions and the guilt still randomly gives me weird nightmares."

"See?" Ciel pointed out. "By your own admission, nothing good came of hiding it. I still need time to process all this and sort myself out, but I don't want you to keep torturing yourself. We've all suffered enough."

"You really are the best of us all..." Cadmus said, feeling incredibly foolish and incredibly relieved at the same time.

"She's got us beat all right." Zero said.

Sage, Fairy, Phantom and Fighter exchanged awkward glances, reduced to silence by the series of outbursts. Lune was torn between finding the end of the exchange rather endearing and wondering what exactly her daughter had been up to without her supervision. Nur-Ab-Sal prudently switched off the monitor before someone decided to throw a random object or two at it. He had definitely not foreseen most of what had just happened.

Later…

"And that's pretty much what you missed." Cadmus finished, rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly. "So instead of one ruler, the tin can in the wall ended up with two. The Imperative to provide direction, and the Affirmative to be a reminder of one's priorities… and keep said Imperative from going overboard and doing stupid crap. We could have made it a triumvirate of sorts, but Zero said, and I quote, that he doesn't need a fancy title, and is just glad to see the idiocy coming to a close."

"Seriously?" Lan asked.

"Dude..." Hub added.

"What the hell..." Gallant muttered, shaking his head.

"You're not off the hook either, my boy." Ciel retorted, glaring at him from her seat at one of the chair's massive armrests. "I know you knew too."

"Damnit… Who talked? Was it Revan? Damn troll..." Gallant grumbled. "Besides, I was asleep for years. You guys had plenty of time to sort things out."

"Don't try to deflect the issue." Ciel countered, though at this point it was difficult for Gallant to figure out if she was still genuinely mad or simply making him sweat.

"There's also the matter of how exactly Revan got a hold of certain people's DNA samples and managed to convert them into code." Cadmus muttered, looking pointedly at Ciel. "I almost had his neck for that when I found out. I definitely wasn't expecting a certain someone's decision later regarding Alouette."

"It just serves to show..." Lan quipped. "Don't mess with smart girls. I've known Yai long enough to know she has steel underneath the bangs and the dress. Possibly fangs too. Not sure. Maybe Chaud will know."

"Well, that all sure was emotionally draining." Hub said. "But more to the point, why did you insist on us coming to meet you all the way out here? And what's with the saluting and the 'Commander' this, 'Commander' that?"

"The idea was mine, actually." Zero said. "Though I did want to keep it a surprise. "I guess those four can be real trolls too when they want."

"Commander of what exactly?" Lan asked.

Cadmus adjusted the chair and, after making sure Ciel was settled comfortably enough not to fall off, turned on the monitors on the wall again.

"Given your experience in handling various acts of cyberterrorism over the years, we consulted our counterparts across the world and the heads of various law enforcement agencies." Ciel explained.

"They want a word with you." Cadmus said, straightening his posture and taking a deep breath before patting Ciel's shoulder, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by the others.

"Now bear in mind that for… technical reasons, both our faces and voices will be concealed during this meeting. Yours will not." Cadmus pointed out before continuing.

At the push of a button, various faces appeared on the monitors, some of which Lan recognized. He was not expecting, however, to see his old rival and reluctant friend Eugene Chaud among them.

"What's he doing here?" Lan whispered.

"It looks like he got bumped up a few ranks among the Officials while you weren't looking." Cadmus whispered back before clearing his throat.

He would have to make a tremendous effort to stay composed and professional given the circumstances and the fact that he was still recovering from the latest round of emotional outbursts, but he was determined not to let anyone find fault with his first official meeting in his new post.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have everyone here." Cadmus continued, addressing the representatives. "Apologies for the delay, but given the recent worldwide communications issues I thought it prudent to get our last members to a place where they could also use a secure channel."

"This entire situation is rather unorthodox..." a middle-aged woman with graying hair and blue eyes framed by a harsh, worn face, said.

The nameplate below her portrait identified her as Magdalena Heim, head of something called the Netzwerksicherheitsverwaltungsbüro. Lan couldn't help feeling a pang of pain in his throat at the mere thought of trying to pronounce that.

"However, while we are somewhat baffled by this methodology, we cannot argue with your recommendation, Herr... Imperativ."

"We do have some questions about why the head of a sovereign state would conceal his identity from this council, however." a slightly younger man with Asian features added, with a piercing stare from his brown eyes. The label identified him as Chairman Yu of the Pan-Asian Security Directorate. "The entire thing seems rather theatrical and unnecessary."

"We are undergoing a period of internal reordering." Ciel said. "We know that our nation's dealings with the outside world have not always been as smooth as desirable, but we are working on rectifying that. We will be taking a more involved role in the proceedings from here on out, however it would seem that the equipment left by our predecessors still needs some adjustments, which we did not have the time to make."

"Say no more." another man added, with white hair, a prominent forehead and an elongated face.

The label identified him as Director Karamazov of the Netpol.

"We are still repairing some of our systems after that last fiasco of an OS update last week. Technology..."

This comment elicited some smiles from the other representatives, and Cadmus and Ciel relaxed slightly.

"Well then…" Heim continued. "While we would need to draft a charter for this task force, possibly borrowing some elements from Interpol and other groups, I believe we should begin defining its structure, mandate and preliminary operations plan immediately."

"There is something else you should know." Lan added. "While this may come as a shock to many, I would like to preemptively state that there is no cause for alarm for what I am about to divulge. I am sure most if not all gathered here are familiar with the history of Dr. Wily."

The mention of the name definitely soured more than a few faces.

"It would be difficult not to have heard of him." Yu replied. "But please, go on."

"Everyone here probably knows that my brother and I were responsible for foiling several of his previous plots." Lan continued. "What some probably are not aware of is that since the Cybeast incident we have taken a personal interest in his rehabilitation. After all he has experienced… and done… he is trying to give back to the world and make amends for his past transgressions."

Hub stepped forward and continued.

"To this end, he has entrusted us with the keys to uploading two autonomous systems into the network, which are already at work countering the malware attacks that have hijacked so many factories across the world and turned them into production points for those robots you have seen rampaging throughout our cities."

This definitely caught everyone's attention.

"You would trust the word of a convicted criminal?" Heim asked. "One who has personally been responsible for endangering the world several times over?"

"A broken man who is trying to make peace with the past with the time he has left? In this particular case, I'd say yes." Hub replied. "We always thought that he had the talent to do something constructive if he put his will into it, and in this case we were right."

"These autonomous systems – Colonel and Iris – are already active and have already been responsible for purging the malware in the Dentown area and Electopia at large." Lan explained. "In their wake, they area also repairing the damage done to the systems and even tending to areas of the Cyberworld that have long suffered from neglect. I believe you will find this a more desirable outcome than the slaughter more of those machines would have unleashed."

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I may?" Chaud of all people cut in, to everyone's surprise.

"Please do." Yu said.

"I have known these two for many years, and while their methods and reasoning can be utterly baffling at times, one cannot argue with the results. They have accomplished more in the past seven years than half the cybercrime combat organizations in the world put together, between resolving several high profile incidents and preventing the physical annihilation of Earth and its population. While I find the idea of working with someone like Dr. Wily professionally questionable and personally repulsive, he does have renowned skills in this field. I have also seen these two get even hardened criminals to reform, and it would be remiss on my part to omit that, especially given their track record in general. In this case, I advise that we trust their judgment."

The representatives muttered to themselves and seemed to be typing, likely exchanging text messages with each other. After a few tense moments, they seemed to reach a consensus, and Heim spoke again.

"While this entire situation is far form orthodox, so are the present circumstances we face. While these autonomous systems do their work, and as long as they do not prove to be another of Dr. Wily's ruses, we will allow them to continue operating. In the meantime, we would like to enlist your aid in tracking down the source of this heinous attack and collaborate with other agencies in shutting it down."

"You will have it." Lan said. "And we already took the liberty of asking our friends from SciLab to enlist the aid of some very talented individuals as well."

Heim sighed and showed the hint of a smile.

"You and your brother are so young… It is a shame that we must ask you to spend your youth embroiled in such conflicts."

"We do what we must with what we have, so that we can finally have a lasting peace." Hub said, standing straight and clenching his fist.

"For those who are among us now, for those we have lost, and for those yet to come." Lan added.

"I hope our children and grandchildren will have even a fraction of your spirit." another man with a comically round face and large cheeks chimed in, his blue eyes getting visibly moist even behind his thick spectacles.

The label identified him as Operations Director Stark of the International Security Committee, a recent group formed by the United Nations in an attempt to coordinate all the various national and international agencies.

"But this time we are not letting you do all the work. This time, the older generations will step up to the plate."

"We will be in touch again soon." Yu added. "In the meantime, can we ask the Imperative and Affirmative to provide the Commanders the means to send and receive secure communications on the field?"

"Of course." Cadmus said.

"We will outfit them with the very best we have." Ciel added.

"Meeting adjourned then." Heim said. "We will meet again in two hours."

The faces disappeared from the monitors as the feed was cut from their end, but when they were all gone, Chaud remained.

"I take it you still have something to say?" Lan asked.

"I still don't know what you two are thinking half the time… but I'm glad we can count on you."

"You already knew you could." Lan quipped. "If that stick you used to have lodged back there wasn't cutting off the blood flow to your eyes, that is."

Suddenly, Lan heard a girl's laugh, seemingly coming from outside the room. To his and Hub's amusement, they realized it was coming from Chaud's side, and its source soon became apparent as Yai popped up in the image behind him, still laughing.

"Well, that's a surprise." Lan quipped again. "Do your parents know about this?"

"Quiet you." Chaud groaned, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't going to leave her outside in the middle of a mess like this."