Chapter 36
The next morning everyone was eating breakfast rather quietly. For Tobias and Dante, who had spent the night sleeping in the TARDIS, they didn't really have anything to say. Kagari couldn't due to the fact he had an accidently broken jaw, later healed by Dante, from being the subject of several angry and superpowered females. And finally, said females were slightly embarrassed of how they had behaved last night. Still, the silence was uncomfortable.
"So, how was your day out yesterday?" Yahan finally broke the silence. Everyone looked up at the inquiry.
Dante shrugged. "It was ok. What did we do, we went to the arcade..."
"...movie theater..." Tobias added.
"...batting range..."
"...club..."
"Whoa, hang on a minute." Jenny interrupted. "What club?"
"One he forced me to go to when I wanted to go back home." Tobias defended himself while nodding at Dante. "Don't worry, I didn't drink anything."
"Let's see, what else? Oh right, Tobias fought two Sekirei, I unwinged them both, and then met and made a deal with Sanada of the West. So yeah, pretty average night."
Silence for a heartbeat. Then two...
"What!?" Uzume shouted. "You two fought two Sekirei!?"
"No, he fought two Sekirei, I just unwinged them." Dante pointed his chopsticks at Tobias.
"Dante, it's rude to point like that." Miya scolded lightly, and it was a breach in etiquette to point with your chopsticks. Dante apologized while everyone else looked at Tobias in surprise or concern, some a combination.
"Are you alright? Now I mean." Kazehana asked with the concern and slight worry as well.
"I'm fine. I did have some fractured ribs but they healed ok." He reassured them. "Though it was a bit tough fighting two Sekirei at once."
"Who were they?" Matsu asked.
"Numbers 84 and 54, Yashima and Kuruse."
The redhead closed her eyes and remotely accessed her system. "Number 84 Yashima has gravity powers and fights using a giant hammer, Number 54 with tridents she conjures from energy of some some type." Dante took a sip of his drink, waiting to see if she would notice the interesting bit. "Their Ashikabi's..." Matsu then paused.
"Matsu?" Tsukiumi asked. "What's wrong?"
"They don't have Ashikabi's." Matsu eyes were confused when she opened them. "Both of them are listed as Unwinged Sekirei by Matsu's system."
"Could it be a glitch?" Jenny asked.
She huffed angrily. "My system doesn't get glitches."
"Matsu, do something for me please and look up number 86 Katsugari please." Dante asked.
"That's one of Higa's Sekirei. Why do you need Matsu to check on her specifically?"
"Just check, you'll find it interesting." He promised while ignoring the looks from Jenny, Miya and his Sekirei. Narrowing her eyes but doing as he said. With her name and number, she found Katsugari quickly. She instantly saw what Dante meant by interesting. She then saw his slight smile when her eyes open.
"Did you do this?"
"Maybe~" He said coyly while his smile grew.
"How?"
"Dante, what did you do?" Jenny demanded.
"Nothing bad, I swear. But..."
"But..."
"Well, I may have unwinged the three Sekirei in question and made it so they could stay in the West until they could find their real Ashikabi's." The room stayed silent until Uzume asked the obvious question.
"Is there any such thing as a normal day with you?"
"Unfortunately no. He seems to have picked up The Doctors skill of landing in the biggest possible messes without trying." Tobias sighed dramatically, which made Jenny laugh.
"Hey, he does not do it without trying!"
"Oh, so he does it on purpose?"
"Yea-wait, no he doesn't! He just-they-and it...it's complicated!"
"Really? River told me about that time with the vampire fish in Venice."
"Not his fault that their planet blew up!"
"But didn't he cause the cracks in the universe?"
"No, that was..." Actually, maybe he shouldn't mention exactly who had caused that particular incident. "...not his fault! Like the Cyber-Men's creation or the 1000 year war on Skaro."
"Jenny? Anything you want to add?"
"Oh, where to begin?" Jenny smirked. "My birth, my almost death, Cybermen invading Earth several times, Daleks. Really the number of incidents I can list would take years to go through."
"Nice." Tobias and Jenny high fived while Dante let his head hit the table.
"I hate you both." He grumbled while everyone was watching with amusement.
"No you don't." They said with innocent smiles.
"Ugh!" Now he saw why River hated that, it was very irritating. "Can we talk about something else please?"
"Actually yeah, I wanted to ask about who called us last night." Tobias took out his phone and tossed it to Dante. Onscreen was the text he had gotten. "That text directed me to the park you found us in last night. Care to explain?"
"Hhmm, looks like she's doing a good job." Dante commented before handing the phone back. "I'll explain after breakfast. But don't worry about, it's nothing bad."
"You saying that just makes everyone at this table nervous." Tobias dead panned.
"No it doesn't. Guys?"
"No, he's right I'm nervous now." Uzume said, looking like she said. Chiho nodded. Matsu adjusted her glasses while not looking at him. Tsukiumi picked at her food. Musubi and Ku weren't even paying attention as they ate their food. Miya was eyeing him, Kagari doing the same but with a bit more apprehension.
"Jeez, I try to be nice to everyone and this is my reward." Dante said lowly before starting to eat again. Everyone else did while making small talk that was normal for them until...
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Tobias bracelet started ringing and flashing like when River had called. Conversation halted as they looked at him.
"Sorry, I better take this. Dante, can I borrow..." He caught the sonic tossed at him before he had finished. "Thanks. Point and think?"
"Yep. Have fun." Dante smirked evilly, having a very good feeling about this. Well, good for him anyways.
"K. Be right back." He gave Yahan and Kazehana a quick kiss before leaving the room. He stepped out on the porch a few seconds later and sat down with his legs hanging over the side. He took a breath then pointed the sonic, accepting the call. One pillar of light and mini hologram forming later, he was looking at River.
Her clothes had changed, now with a white blouse and blue denim jacket, blue jeans with a leather gun holster belt, and brown worn combat boots. She looked relieved to have gotten through.
"Hey River." Tobias said cheerfully while putting down the sonic.
"Hello again. I'm sorry for calling but we hadn't talked in a while and I wanted to make sure you were ok." River Song may not be by any definition normal, but even she could worry about someone she had raised like a son for five years.
"I'm good, I'm...better than good actually. A lot has changed since your last call."
"Really? Well, care to share?" She asked, looking intrigued.
"Well, let's see. First thing that changed..." He gave her a compressed version of the events that had happened. The bridge escape, him accidentally losing control when Kazehana had been deactivated. He had to stop her from worrying by telling her he hadn't hurt anyone and passed out before he had been able to. Next was the aftermath in which he had been forced to reveal his origins (he had to get her to calm down and convince that tearing Dante apart then chucking the pieces into a supernova was overreacting), his week of small sleep deprived hell(he had to do a lot of calming down again), him and Dante burying the hatchet then showing them his new flight power. Next was the beginning of the third stage and Dante's messing with it, a few days of rest, then the events of yesterday with their guys day out. He had also mentioned he had gotten closer to his Sekirei somewhere in there.
"Well, you've done a lot in the past few months since I've called."
"It's only been a month here. What have you been...know what, never mind I don't want to know. But yeah, it's been busy here." Tobias nodded before smiling. "I wouldn't trade it for anything though."
"Well it's good to see you're happier. But Dante hasn't given you any real trouble?" Tobias gave her a look. "You're right, stupid question, his middle name is trouble. Was there anything else?"
"No." He said while scratching the back of his neck. He stopped when River narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. That was her "I know you're hiding something" stance. "What?"
"Tobias...what are you not telling me?"
"Nothing. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You only scratch the back of your neck when you're not telling me something. Now tell me, or I can just ask Dante and Jenny."
"No!" Dante would purposely blow it out of proportion and Jenny would accidently make it sound worse than it was. "All right, all right. I...might've..." He mumbled the last part.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Can you speak up?" Another mumble but louder. "Little bit more."
He sighed in frustration. "I...might've...slept with Yahan and Kazehana." Oh boy, he could feel River trying to burn a hole in his head with her eyes.
She clicked her tongue. "You what? I mean, I must've misheard you, because..." The chuckle that she did was pure ice. "...I could've sworn I heard you say you slept with your Sekirei." She waited to hear him say she had heard wrong. It never came. "Tobias...WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"
"River, please, if you'll just let me explain..." Tobias tried speak up, but was cut off.
"WHEN YOU GET HOME, WE ARE HAVING A VERY SERIOUS TALK ABOUT THIS! AND DID YOU EVEN USE PROTECTION?!" Oh boy, maybe he should've set up a sound barrier or something because he doubted the others were unable hear to hear this.
"River, please, just calm down and..."
"IF BOTH OF THOSE GIRLS END UP PREGNANT, I WILL..."
"River! Just shut up for a minute and let me talk!" The blond stopped her little rant while looking surprised. He had never shouted at her to shut up. In fact when they weren't running for their life's, he never shouted period. "Thank you! Now, I told them no at first, but they guilted me into it, but I don't regret it. And they can choose to get pregnant or not, so there is no danger of that. So please just stop shouting at me, I'm 18 years old and I can think for myself."
River stared at him. "You've never shouted at me before."
"You've never ranted like that before either." He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Look, I get that you're worried about me, but I'm not just some hormonal and impulsive teenager. I know the consequences of my actions and that I'll have to take them as they come. So...just lighten up, ok? Please."
River considered it which made him nervous. If she wanted payback for this, she would hit him with it when he least expected it. And he had heard about how she had torn apart the Silence on Earth the day of the moon landing. Not pretty, if well deserved.
She sighed. "We're still having that talk, but I guess...I guess I'll trust you."
"Thank you." He looked for a subject to dispel the sudden awkwardness. "How are things going back home?"
"Hhmm? Oh, oh they're fine. I'm just teaching my classes and taking care of business." River nodded.
"How's Torchwood doing?"
"Don't know, I haven't been there in a week. At least I think it's been a week. Time travel..."
"Can't keep it straight." He finished, making them both laugh. It was an old joke with them, but it was a good one. Feeling better now, Tobias said, "I better get back inside, the others will be finishing up breakfast."
"Oh, before you go, I had a question for you?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you plan to do when this is all over?"
Tobias blinked. He wasn't expecting that and now that River had asked, he realized he didn't really know what he was going to do. Once the Sekirei Plan was finished(or destroyed), then the entire reason he had stayed here in the first place would be gone. He guessed he would go back home to his universe, but he also had Yahan and Kazehana to really consider now. He loved them, they loved him but...if they stayed together, it would mean either he'd have to stay here and make a life in this universe or bring Yahan and Kazehana with him back to his, meaning they'd be leaving everything behind here. He knew they didn't have much here but it was their home, he didn't want to make them choose between it and him. Dante's plan for the Sekirei and Ashikabi's after the Plan was still in the works, the kinks needed to be hammered out. And it was the problem of if they stayed, they'd be targets for various governments once their existence was revealed as weapons, while Tobias...he could be a one man army or the ultimate assassin for them. He wouldn't do that willingly but...well despite their objections, the various governments weren't above blackmail and forcing people into getting what they want.
"I...I don't know. I guess I never thought that far ahead."
"Hmmm. Well, give it some thought." She advised and he nodded. "Tell everyone I say hello, including that woman Miya. I rather like her." She smiled, showing off white teeth. Tobias shivered.
'She would like her.' He thought, but out loud he said, "I will. Bye River."
"Ta." The hologram wavered and collapsed, leaving Tobias on the porch as he considered what River had asked. Then he shook his head and got up, grabbing the sonic and heading back to the dining room.
"Dante, here's your..." He stopped when he noticed everyone looking at him with various looks, but Dante looked highly amused while his Sekirei weren't looking at him, blushes on their cheeks. He had a sinking feeling. "What?"
"Nothing~" Dante sang-said. "But apparently that talk with River took an interesting turn. Something about 'what did you do' and some other things."
Tobias gritted his teeth and threw the sonic at Dante who caught it with ease. He then made a quick air hand and made it shove Dante face first into his food.
'Ass.' He thought darkly before closing the door and heading upstairs, hands jammed in his pockets and shoulders hunched. Back in the dining room Dante picked himself up. He cleared away some of the larger pieces of food from his face then wiped away the rest with a napkin.
"Jeez he can't take a joke."
"That wasn't a joke Dante." Jenny scolded lightly with a frown. "That was you giving him a hard time."
"I'll go apologize later." He promised. "Once I clean up my face."
1 hour later
Cleaning up had taken a few minutes but Dante had want to check up on various things regarding...issues that he absolutely had to take care before disappearing into the TARDIS. At least that's what he told them but Jenny informed them he was most likely just going to tinker with something since he hadn't done any tinkering in weeks. And if he didn't, it normally led to him going crazier than normal, which caused everyone rational to shiver with a slight amount of terror, Miya among them. So after that they went about the house with Yahan and Kazehana going to try and draw Tobias out of their room. It didn't work, but they could feel his bad mood at least lessen when they tried before it went away, replaced by calm. They guessed he was meditating and left him alone then. Jenny had spared with Miya for once, and lost miserably. She had little to no experience with swords and was going up against a clearly experienced swords woman like Miya. She had ended up with bruises all over her arms, legs, and upper torso with dirtied hair and sweaty skin, but she said she had rather enjoyed the workout and thanked Miya before going to bathe.
Matsu checked her system for bugs because as unlikely as it was, this could be a computer glitch. What she found was not only were three different Sekirei now unwinged, one of them previously being Higa Izumi's Sekirei, but there was no longer a bounty out on all of them. She checked to see when it had been taken down and found that it had been last night. Yet another question the others had to ask Dante since Tobias didn't know about it until they told him about it. Musubi and Ku played a game of tag together with Musubi going easier on the smaller girl, but both having fun. Tsukiumi took a nap, Chiho and Uzume just rested under the tree together with Chiho sitting between Uzume's legs while the star shirted Sekirei pulled her Ashikabi closer, resting her chin on top of her head. Chiho was blushing cutely and Uzume had a coy look in her eyes, but Miya was watching them to make sure they kept it "innocent" enough from the porch, enjoying a small pot of tea set besides her.
Kagari spent some time reading a book on the porch he had bought a long time ago but never actually had time to look at in depth, and Akitsu spent some time manipulating ice with her powers in the yard. She was trying something that she had thought of from watching Tobias train Kazehana with her own powers. Currently it was a just small ball of ice the size of a baseball.
"Anybody know how much longer Dante is going to be?" Jenny asked as she stepped outside. Her hair was wet and tangled from her bath, out of its normal ponytail so it dropped past her shoulders. Kagari looked up from his book.
"Nope, far as we know he's still in his box."
"Is it possible that he's died in there?" Uzume called from her spot. "I mean, that's possible right?"
"Oh if you aren't careful certainly." Dante's voice said right next to her head. She felt something tap it and looked to see him a few inches from her face, upside down.
He grinned. "Hello."
Uzume shrieked in surprise and tried to backpedal from him but she forgot Chiho between her legs so all she did was fall on her back. "Damn it bro don't do that! Wait, how are you doing are?" She asked when she saw his feet was firmly against the bottom of a thick tree branch directly above them. "And how did you get up there without us seeing you?"
His smile widened. "Sorry, got to keep some secrets...well, secret." He said while Uzume got up and helped up Chiho as well. Once the ground was cleared, Dante dropped and flipped so he landed feet first. He clapped his hands. "Ok, let's get everyone together and I'll explain last night. K?"
"I'll tell everyone upstairs." Jenny turned and walked back inside.
"Thanks!" Dante called after her. "Miya, shall we?" He asked the landlady who had set down her cup. She smiled.
"Yes, I'm rather curious to find out about last nights mysteries."
"Well, I'll go ask Matsu if I can use her computers then." He walked to the porch and went inside. 5 minutes later everyone was inside the computer room, the shorter people sitting in the front while the taller ones sat in back. Dante was sitting on one side of the computer screens and Matsu sat on the other.
"Right, now last nights events." Dante clapped his hands. "Me and Tobias left the bar we went to..."
"Despite my objections." The silver eyed teen interrupted. His arms were crossed and he didn't look happy to be reminded about being forced to go clubbing.
"Yeah, but you made a new friend, so stop complaining. Anyways, these...are the security feeds from last night at...10:04 P.M." Dante said as he pulled up the video logs in question and started playing them. The videos in question showed Dante and Tobias leaving the bar with Dante supporting the former, then walking a few blocks. Both their phones rang, but they could only tell this because they took them out at the same time since the cameras hadn't had any microphones to record sound. Dante straightened up and smiled while Tobias looked at his phone in confusion. He asked a question, Dante apparently waved him off, him putting in a earbud, them being approached by the Sekirei and Ashikabi's of last night, then all the feeds cutting off at once to leave behind static.
"Wait, what happened?" Uzume asked.
"What happened, my dear perverted Uzume..." He ignored the shout of "Hey!" and Chiho's blush at being reminded that part of her Sekirei. "...was my dear old friend taking over the MBI feeds and making it so they couldn't see what happened."
"And who is that old friend anyways? Because they must be a really smart friend to not only hack MBI's cameras and send me a text while blocking the number." Tobias said.
"Oh she did more than that, she also got into Higa's personal laptop and erased a few videos we didn't want him to have of our bridge escape."
"What? And wait, you're friend is a she?" Kagari asked.
"Eeh, in a manner of speaking."
"Well what does that mean?" Yahan demanded.
Dante raised a finger. "Hang on a minute." He then pulled out an earbud and put it in his right ear. "Hello, you there? Hey, I need...yeah, I'm telling them about you. You don't mind do you? Ok good, then I just need you to show us things from your point of view from last night so they can see...you're awesome. Hang on a second..." He started typing away at the keyboard. "Matsu, whatever happens, don't try stopping this, it's nothing bad. Plus I'm not 100% percent sure what would happen if you try touching her through your...mind."
"Don't stop what?" Matsu asked with narrowed eyes as she watched Dante move through her system. If something was going to happen to her system, then she'd be the judge as to what she should or shouldn't stop.
He halted his pointer finger above the Enter key. "This." He pressed the key and all the screens went dark, leaving the room dark. A second later the screens lightened up from black to light black.
"Dante, what did you do?" Jenny sighed. He held up his pointer finger.
"Wait for it. She needs to compress the data before she can send it to us...ah, there we go!" He snapped and pointed at the screens. On them large, 3-D white lines were snaking from the center one and spreading to the other corners and outwards before the thick lines sprouted several thousand smaller lines, than smaller ones on top of that. The smallest ones almost looked like squares or rectangles, but they couldn't tell. Everyone watched in awe while Tobias felt like he recognized this from somewhere. Some 21st century show he watched back in the 51st century with River.
"What is that?" Kazehana asked.
"These? Her eyes and her ears, but I just call it her Cyber-Web. Here..." He touched his ear. "Start from a satellite and work your way down into this room please. Thanks. Ok, watch this."
The view zoomed into one of the "roots" until they saw it change into a video feed. It showed the globe from space while writing in the corner said MBI satellite number 29. The image zoomed in until it showed the landmass of Japan. It stopped for a second, then zoomed in again to show the city of Shinto Teito from above. They could tell that because they could see MBI Tower in the center of the city. It then moved towards the North and zoomed in again. Now that they were getting close enough to make out people, the could see white dotted boxes around people and cars until it the image stopped at...
"That's the inn." Tsukiumi said with narrowed eyes.
"Ok, move to a street view please." Dante asked. The imaged pulled back to the root screen again and moved up and to the right, moving in to show a image of the inn from down the street. The boxes were now around people's head as they moved up and down the streets. The image changed to right across the inn while the writing said ATM machine number 834 and a time stamp below the writing. The image changed to...
"That's one of Matsu's cameras!" Matsu said as the view showed the hidden door in the hall. The image then changed so they were looking at themselves looking through a webcam. But the boxes were different colors for them. Around Dante and Miya's heads was a yellow box, Tobias, Jenny, and Chiho's boxes were blue, while the boxes around the various Sekirei's were all green.
"And this..." Dante turned his head, onscreen now showing the back of his head as he moved. "Is my friend."
"What...is that?" Ku asked with curiosity as she looked at big brother and the screen.
"It's a program. A very special and very advanced program Ku. It's something that the creator of this program called The Machine."
"The Machine?" Tobias said slowly. "The Machine? The 'connected to government feeds and can learn everything about you by spying on you 24/7, predicting acts of terror and sounding the alert' Machine!?"
Dante looked surprised. "I didn't expect you to know all that. Did you watch...?"
"Person of Interest? Yeah, I watched it with River on the weekends. Provided we weren't running for our lives or had other plans for the day. Good show, but back to the point, how did you get The Machine?!"
"Met Harold and Reese. Well, I say met, Reese tried to deck me when they found me at the library and sitting at Harold's desk, but that's not important. Long story short, I found and made a copy of The Machine, with her permission. It's comes in handy, like now."
"Excuse me, but you're talking about this like this...program is alive." Matsu interjected.
"It is." Dante looked at her. "Not actually alive mind you, but functionally this program is a living thinking being. That's also why I didn't want you touching the system, I'm not sure what would happen if you did, her file size and complexity far exceeds anything you've ever seen."
"Somehow I doubt that." Matsu said with a slight frown. The idea that a program could've been written by what sounded like a human friend of Dante's that she couldn't fully understand was unlikely, and actually a bit insulting.
"Really?" Dante said with a look like he was talking a child. "Ok then, take a look at this." Finger to earbud. "Can you please show the first five megabytes of your programming data please? No, I won't let her change it, it's just to prove my point. Yes you can lock her out if she tries anything. Thank you."
Onscreen, the Cyber-Web vanished to be replaced by lines of computer code the scrolled down the screen quickly. Dante waved at it. "This is her coding, now I want you to look at it and tell me if you could make something even remotely similar this is in the same three years my friend Harold used."
Matsu looked dubiously at the programming on the screen, eyes zipping back and forth to read the lines of the computer language she was fluent in. She slowed down in her reading as she went on through it, eyes slowly growing wider as she attempted to grasp exactly what she was looking at. Dante felt her disbelief and said, "Yeah. This programming isn't like anything you would've ever come across."
"Why not?" Tsukiumi asked.
"Because of what The Machine is on a fundamental level. Tobias, you want to explain?"
"Uh, sure." He said while everyone besides Dante and Matsu paid attention to him. "Ok, some basic background on The Machine and it's creators first. The men who created The Machine were brilliant computer programmers named Harold Finch and Nathan C. Ingram. Both of them were friends from high school and started up a software company after that, saying they were going to change the world. They started the initial work after a terrorist event that happened on September 11th 2001. Two planes were hijacked and crashed into the Twin Towers, destroying them and killing a lot of people. The day after that, Harold and Nathan started working on something that could watch everything and predict acts of terror based on that. Now, the problem was to program something that big is hard enough, but on top of that, how do you make it so a machine can understand human behavior?"
"You...program it to think?" Yahan answered hesitantly.
"Ok, that's a good thought, but how? Programming computers is hard enough, like a...a video game, that's almost a million or more lines of code to make the characters act out preprogrammed movements and lines on screen, how do you program something to think and act on its own? And don't forget, you're trying to make a machine, which is normal cold, logical, and calculating, to understand and predict the behavior of people, who are emotional, irrational, and do things for reasons that aren't immediately obvious. Harold tackled these problems for most of a year until he used another method of computer programming, called evolutionary programming."
"Ok, what's that?" Miya asked politely.
"Uh, I'll take this, this part gets technical." Dante said, leaving Matsu to look at the code.
"Sure, please." Tobias said.
"Ok, now evolutionary programming is somewhat easy to understand if difficult to make work correctly. It involves, in the case of The Machine, having the program delete bits of its own code and rewriting itself on its, basicly deciding how it works by itself. Now like evolution takes thousands and thousands of years, The Machine did this thousands and thousands of times over, going from the base code they started with into something that nobody else could write because they couldn't understand how. The first version of The Machine, just starting to work, came online on New Year's Day, in the year 2002. Harold asked it to identify him and it did, as the administrator."
"Ok, what happened next?" Kazehana asked.
"Well he trained it basically. The Machine was designed to learn and adapt as it watched, like you or I or anyone in this room would from new experiences, and it did. After 4 years of this, when it had grown to a level that it could watch everyone in the country and predict behavior based on their history and current movements. The whole reason The Machine was designed was to find and prevent acts of terror."
"How?" Kagari asked.
"Social Security numbers." Tobias answered, drawing back attention. "Harold was worried about The Machine being abused by the government and violating people's privacy so he coded the Machine so that it couldn't be altered in any way unless an individual had physical access to its hardware or in response to a cyber-attack. The best way, he decided, was making the machine spit out a Social Security number to the government, the one the perpetrator or one of the perpetrators has. Like a nudge saying 'there's something interesting over here' to draw attention to the puzzle they have to piece together. That way, peoples privacy is respected and the government is put on the right track to stop a terrorist attack."
"There's a lot more to the story but I think you get the basic idea. The Machine is smart, it's flexible, it can learn, and it can watch our enemies every second of every day from the satellites MBI has in orbit along with street, traffic, and any other camera you can think of." Dante said, looking back at the screen. He stopped when he noticed Matsu sitting on the ground and looking awe struck. "Uh, Matsu?" He snapped his fingers in front of her. "Matsu?" Hand waving in front of her face. Still nothing. "Matsu!"
"Huh?" The redhead turned her head, looking surprised at the shout. Dante sighed and rubbed his brow.
"I get that the code is incredible, but it's not that big a deal Matsu. No that was not an insult to you, I'm just saying one doesn't need to zone everything out to appreciate it." He said into his earpiece. "Can you just take down the code?" The window onscreen closed to be replaced by the Cyber-Web, much to Matsu's obvious displeasure from her pout, followed by a whine that sounded like she had just lost her favorite toy.
"That's a good point though, why are you able to talk with The Machine like you are?" Tobias asked as he realized that last night, all the information Dante had on Junichi and Keigo from last night must've come from his "friend."
"Oh, don't worry, she doesn't give me full access to her all the time. Think of what access I have like an early warning system and basic history, but if I do need it she'll give me everything."
"What, like God Mode everything or 'Root' everything?"
"God mode."
"Is that good or bad?" Miya asked.
"Well God Mode access would mean I just have to ask and The Machine would give me everything about a person, place, or thing, but that's when things are really really bad. Root access means she tells me what I need to know and nothing else, like last night with the fight. Oh, and before I forget..." Dante dug through and tossed Tobias a earbud. "That's so she can talk to you too. You don't have to wear it all the time, but if you get a text on your cell that says 'emergency', put the earbud in and she'll fill you in." Tobias nodded before slipping the earbud into his bracelet.
"How are you running this anyways? The Machines data size is huge and needs a lot of hardware to run."
"Oh, she's running from the TARDIS. It's a complicated relationship between the two but you call it symbiotic. The TARDIS provides any hardware and processing power The Machine needs and in return The Machine...well I guess you could say she keeps her company."
"And how is she inside MBI's cameras?" Matsu asked, adjusting her glasses. "It takes me a lot of effort to get and stay inside the MBI database, let alone access all their cameras and their satellites to turn off the feeds."
"You remember that program I said I slipped into MBI's database?" Dante smirked. "The program was a very special back door. It's set up inside a garbage file, but it's also completely unnoticeable by scanning and physical inspection of the computer code. The Machine can come and go as she pleases."
"Can anybody use that?" Matsu asked excitedly. Dante shook his head.
"I may not like MBI, but I'm not stupid enough to make a back door that anybody can use, like Higa for example. The back door needs a one million number passcode to use, and the code changes every time The Machine enters and leaves. She's able to calculate it thanks to some very powerful processors the TARDIS let's her use. So unless you can crack that kind of pass code in less than a minute, you're flat out of luck."
Matsu sighed. Oh well.
"So why did you use something like her anyways? Is Matsu not good enough anymore?" Uzume teased.
"Oh, on the contrary, I felt bad about Matsu being locked up in this room so she could watch our...competitors. No, no, The Machine is so Matsu can relax and get out of this tomb of a room a bit more. Get some sun, maybe a tan." He said as he patted the redheads shoulder, making her blush slightly. "So, yeah, moving on since we got completely side tracked by my friend, you guys were wondering about the three Sekirei I unwinged last night and how I did so."
"So, as to how I did was simple actually. I've been studying the Sekirei bond as you know and I found it to be really similar to what would be considered a low level telepathic bond that shares emotions back in the Doctors universe." His explanation was met with some blank stares from most of the Sekirei throwing in confused looks from Musubi and Ku. "Right, you don't know what those are. Ok, the Sekirei bond which shares emotions, is a similar bond back in the Doctors universe with minor differences."
Musubi's eyes light up. "There's more Sekirei bonds there?"
"Weellll yes and no." Musubi looked confused. "Yes, there are bonds very, very similar to the Sekirei bond we share, but they aren't as...binding, nor are they used to find the love of our lives, but it can be used if one or both of the people in love are telepathic." Still a confused look at the last part. "It's not the same Musubi. It's similar, but not the same."
"Oh." Musubi pouted. "That's too bad."
Dante chuckled. Oh, only Musubi. "Right, in any case, Timelords or Timelord hybrids like me are telepathic to one degree or another. Some are stronger and better at it, others not so much, but I'm one of the stronger ones. So, what I did last night was simply take the existing bonds with Kuruse, Yashima, and Katsugari, then serve them. With their permission of course, I'd never do that unless the Sekirei wanted that and their Ashikabi's were...jerks." He had a better word to use, but Miya and Ku were present so he censored himself.
"So...you could destroy all our bonds?" Uzume asked nervously while scooting a bit closer to Chiho. None of the Sekirei looked thrilled at that prospect and were eyeing the teen.
"Did I not just say I wouldn't do that, or were you too busy trying to sleep with Chiho to hear that?"
Uzume and Chiho went atomic red.
"Hey, just cause I'm that..." She stopped, casting a glance at Miya who had a suspiciously cheerful smile in place that made her shiver. "...determined doesn't mean I'm deaf!" She shouted as her face went redder.
"Riiiight, I'll believe that when you stop trying." Dante said with a condescending smile that made Uzume shiver in anger. "Oh, I have an idea. Tobias, you still have those things you used to make your room sound proof?"
"No, I am not giving those to those two. I'd never get them back since Uzume would just keep..." He clicked his tongue to get his point across. "...using them."
"Hey!" Everyone who got the joke either snorted, smirked, or laughed with amusement. The pair of females went even redder and Uzume tried to scowl at Dante as she pointed. "You...are...evil."
"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Jenny informed her while grinning. "Be grateful he's just teasing, if he really wanted to humiliate you he would've resorted to pranking."
"Why should that make me feel better?" Uzume grumbled.
"No, really, you're getting off easy. River told me about a time he managed to get a very important Greek goddess using some paper, a fan, and...oh, what was that last thing?" Tobias asked.
"Oh yeah, Aphrodite. Last one was diluted hydra acid, which was a pain to get. Hehehe, you should've seen how red she turned." Dante snickered as he remembered getting one up on one of the many different versions of the love goddess. "She didn't show her face for a week afterwards."
"Point is, just be happy he's teasing and nothing else." Jenny advised a thoroughly confused Uzume but considering the serious look in Jenny and Tobias's eyes, she took their advice and settled down.
"Right, in any case I cut the links of those three Sekirei had with their jerks of Ashikabi's since they were all forcibly winged anyways, so at least now they can find their real Ashikabi's somewhere out there."
"I trust you didn't just leave them to be forciably winged again." Miya said sweetly.
"Do I look like an idiot, don't answer that." He warned as Jenny opened her mouth and Tobias started to raise a finger. "I made sure they'd be safe until the found new Ashikabi's."
"Does this have anything to do with whoever it was you needed to meet?" Tobias asked.
"Yep." Dante popped the 'p' in the sentence. "Went to talk with the last superpower in the city and make a deal with him."
"The last superpower?" Yahan asked, confused. Then her eyes widened. "You talked to Sanada." She remembered him mentioning that at breakfast this morning, but it had gotten pushed to the back of her mind when...cough...other subjects had come up.
"Yep." Dante didn't seem to be in any hurry to explain himself if that smirk on his face said anything.
"Dante, explain or I'll have the TARDIS hide you workrooms from you." Jenny commented lightly. The smirk melted off his face to be replaced by a look of what he would later say was "mock" horror that looked very much like the real thing.
"You wouldn't!"
"She would." Tobias said. "Keep two things in mind. One, Jenny is the Doctor's daughter. I know for a fact she's got his intelligence and cleverness, and second...well it's Jenny." He didn't know a better way to put it.
Dante considered what he had just heard. Ok, he knew the intelligence and cleverness factors, but he did also have to consider that the TARDIS, his TARDIS, was very fond of Jenny. He didn't know if that was because of her personality or her being the Doctors daughter or both, but if she asked for his workrooms to be hidden from him...the TARDIS might actually do it. Not only would that be torture with having nothing to mess with, but he also had a side project he had been working on for that hour he had been gone that would need attending to in another hour or there would be a very big boom.
"Ok, ok, just...don't ask the TARDIS to hide my workrooms." He conceded while holding up his hands in a "calm down" manner. Jenny smirked internally at seeing the most powerful person in the room almost pleading with her from one simple sentence.
'Yep. Still got it.' She thought evilly while Miya smiled. She'd have to ask Jenny for ways to...encourage Dante.
"It was a fairly straightforward talk. We met, we talked, made a deal, then went our separate ways. That's it, I swear."
"What deal?" Tobias cocked an eyebrow.
"Eehh, small one. The deal is he looks after any Unwinged Sekirei we may or may not send his way until they find their real Ashikabi's and we don't cause any trouble in the west. Plus we don't fight him if we end up in the same round in stage three." Everyone stared at Dante.
"Let me get this straight." Kazehana said slowly. "You met with Sanada of the West, made a deal with said Ashikabi to take care of any Unwinged Sekirei you may send his way until they're winged again, and in exchange you basically leave him alone. With the Unwinged Sekirei."
"Well, not exactly. I might've mentioned if he tried to forcibly wing them I'd throw him into MBI tower, tied up and with a note that said 'deliver to the Black Sekirei.' Or off a skyscraper, I can't remember which."
"Yeah, I think she's more concerned with the fact that Sanada is Seo 2.0." Tobias said. "How is he going to look after who knows how many Unwinged Sekirei while fighting off Mikogami and Higa?"
"Higa won't be a problem and Mikogami seems to get the hint that I can make his life miserable. But you do bring up some good points with Sanda being Seo's twin, so I also gave him one other thing before I left." Dante smirked. "I gave him the bank account information for one of Higa's many different accounts to use. And there was way too much in there for him to burn through in a short amount of time." Everybody looked shocked, but nobody asked how he had gotten that kind of information. The point was sinking in that if Dante wanted something, he'd get it without anybody ever knowing.
Dante clapped his hands, breaking the silence. "Well, that's what happened last night, so if you'll excuse me, I have something I need to look at. Hope this explained everything." And with that parting sentence, he left the room and everyone inside were surprised at the sudden leave.
After a few second, Jenny rubbed her temples, sighing. "Oh, it sucks that I can't have aspirin." The chemical was highly toxic to Timelord and Lady biology and right now she had a pounding headache for her mind being blown several times in the past half hour or so.
"I think I'm going to go take some." Tobias got up and left the room with his Sekirei following. Clearly the meeting was over and everyone went their own ways.
Tobias popped the two pills he had grabbed from Miya's first aid kit into his mouth before taking a drink of water to wash them down.
"Well, that was interesting." Yahan said across from him as he set down the glass on the kitchen counter, Kazehana beside her.
"More like really annoying." Tobias snorted. "River always told me Dante's plans get large and out of control, but she failed to mention the headaches that come with them." He rubbed his eyes, feeling the pounding in his head from said headache.
"He seems to know what he's doing though." Kazehana pointed out.
"Half the time. The other half according to River is him and the Doctor making things up as they go, hoping for the best." That got looks from both Sekirei. "I'm not kidding, if even half of River's stories are accurate, my universe has survived due to pure dumb luck, since He seems to make a point of doing the impossible. 'Hey look, I'm the Doctor, I can save the universe with one hand behind my back and peice of string.'" He said in a terrible imitation of the Doctor's 11th regeneration.
"Has he ever actually done that?" Yahan smiled.
"Truthfully...I think he did." His serious gaze was met for a minute in silence, then his face broke out in a smile and they all started laughing at the ridiculous idea. But the subject of universes did remind Tobias he wanted to ask when he was alone with Yahan and Kazehana. "Hey, I wanted to ask you two about something." He laced his fingers toghther and leaned on the counter as his face turned serious again. Both blinked at the sudden intense gaze.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, but my talk with...River..." He was still embaressed about one particular topic from that conversation. Kazehana and Yahan's cheeks were dusted pink at the mention of that. "...she brought up a good point that I hadn't given a lot of thought about, and I wanted to talk to both of you about it."
"Ok..." Kazehana said.
He took a breath. "What do you two want to do? After the Sekirei Plan is over." They looked at each other then Yahan spoke up.
"What do you want to do?"
He sighed and ran his right hand through his hair. "It's not that simple Yahan. I want to go home, I'm not going to lie to you. I miss River, I miss home, hell I even miss Jack. But I also have to consider you two and what you want. You accepted all of me and I can't imagine life without either of you. But that doesn't change the fact this universe is your home, and if you wanted to stay...I guess I'd stay here then."
The wind and shadow bending Sekirei's were stunned. Tobias loved them both, they knew that and they loved the fact that he loved them both for them. But saying he would stay in a alternate universe he had accidently come to just to stay with them...
Tobias got nervous when they just kept staring at him. "Girls? Is that..." He didn't get a chance to finish since Yahan grabbed his face in both hands and pulled him over the counter into a passionate kiss. After getting over his shock he closed his eyes and kissed back until the need to breath was unbearable. Once they separated, Kazehana kissed him the same way but had moved to stand besides her Ashikabi's during his first kiss.
Once he had gotten his breath back along with his thoughts from the two passion filled kisses, Tobias asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"
Kazehana and Yahan smiled. "For being everything we wanted in an Ashikabi. Loving, sweet, and considering of us." Kazehana answered.
"But if it really means that much to you to go home," Yahan kept going. "Then we'd be happy to go back to your universe with you."
"What? But this place..."
"Is home. But if we get to stay with you, we wouldn't mind. Besides, it sounds better then staying here and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our life's when your own life is back home." Yahan interrupted. Really what was here for them? They had no records saying they existed other then what MBI had and once that company fell, they'd have no way of supporting or hiding themselves from regular people. Going to Tobias's universe when this was over just made sense.
Tobias's face split in half with a smile and he laughed as he hugged Kazehana and then Yahan. This was better then he had hoped. He'd be going home and the two most important people in his life would be coming with him when this was over.
"Thank you." He said sincerely. Then his smile turned devious. "But you do know since you're both being so understanding, I have to pay you back, right?" He asked in a slightly husky voice. Both Sekirei shivered at the implications in the sentence. "Yahan...shadow portal please."
The dark skinned girl did as he asked and they dropped through the formed gateway. She didn't need to ask the destination as she did. They wouldn't be seen for the next few hours until they came out of their room, hair styles a mess and clothes wrinkled.
Dinner came and went with the normal noisy conversations being carried out between the inn mates as they ate. Miya then received help cleaning the table from Musubi and Tsukiumi while everyone else decided to head outside to enjoy a clear, warm night. Dante guided Ku as she used her powers to grow and nourish her plants, Chiho and Uzume cuddled toghther under the same tree as earlier. Tobias, Kazehana, and Yahan sat on the roof as he pointed out some constellations he knew and tell them some stories about Jack, Torchwood, and River's past adventures with the Doctor. Jenny spared lightly with Kagari and Akitsu sat on the porch, continuing her attempts at her own secret project, Matsu reading a book besides her. It was a pleasant, quite and perfect night.
Then a familiar sound of loud music started playing, vibrating the air and getting everyone's attention. They looked towards MBI tower which was sending up the Sekirei crest again.
"Damn it." Dante swore when he saw it. "It's the third match." He raised his voice. "Ok, everyone inside, we need to find out...!"
RING RING RING. RING RING RING. RING RING RING.
The loud ringing off a digital ring tone cut through the air, everyone looking at the source. Which was coming from the roof. Tobias slowly took out the cellphone he had been given from Dante, looking at it. A blocked number, but everyone knew exactly who it was from.
Yahan and Kazehana both had clear views of Tobias's face it was calm, but they felt slight nervousness and apprehension.
"Well...looks like it's my turn in this." He commented lightly before getting up and walking off the roof, descending like he was walking down a staircase to the yard while his Sekirei jumped down to it. They both looked determined.
Before anyone could think of a response, another sound filled the air. This one was the Transformers theme song as Dante's pocket vibrated. He pulled out his phone and looked at it. Then up to see everyone looking at him, but he kept his attention on Tobias who did the same. They both hit the answer button and put the phones to their ears, walking inside as the others followed upstairs
"Hello to all Ashikabi! Sorry to keep you waiting." Minaka's disgustingly cheerful voice said over the phone. The call sounded like a recording. "Let's begin the third round! There are four teams participating, and each Ashikabi is allowed to bring three Sekirei. The rules will be explained once everyone has arrived at the arena."
Dante and Tobias hung up, Dante pushing open the door to Matsu room. The Machine's Cyber-Web was pulled up and searching for the location already. A red dot dropped on a virtual map of the city with green writing next to it.
"The location is the Capital Chuuou Junction." Dante said.
So, the third match had started. The rules weren't anounnced, but each Ashikabi could bring three Sekirei, and there would be four teams. Two of which were him and Tobias, the strongest Ashikabi's in the game. And he had a feeling their oppenents were going to be very, very strong.
This was going to get complicated.
A/N from lostsoldierS636: (sitting on couch watching Classic Who while having a pen and pad in lap, scribbling down notes)
A/N from Jason Grace son of zues: uh, lostsoldierS636.
lostsoldierS636: (Looks up from screen) Yes?
Jason Grace son of zues: The chapters over, it's time for the A/N.
lostsoldierS636: Oh?...Oh! Alright then.(gets up from couch leaving pen and paper on couch) Alright then, so...
Jason Grace son of zues:What are you doing watching Classic Doctor Who anyways?
lostsoldierS636: Getting new ideas for our other stories. Maybe even including a few enemies from Classic Who for this one.
Jason Grace son of zues:You sure it's not the fact that I knew about the aspirin thing and you had to look it up to make sure it was real?
lostsoldierS636: No, I needed to look it up due to the fact that I do remember about the aspirin thing only very vauge.
Jason Grace son of zues: Sure~. But anyways, please keep going.
lostsoldierS636: Alright then. So a couple things. Firstly, the aspirin fact is 100% true and I've known thanks to watching the movie with 8th Doctor Paul McGann. On a side note, he actually regenerated from his 7th form after being killed on the operating table of end 20th century doctors(1999(despite the fact the film came out 1996)). But aside from that, this chapter took little time to do. Well maybe a few weeks but still. Anywho next chapter will be quite a doozy.
Jason Grace son of zues: Yes it is. We've got a few ideas, and I've got one really evil one. Even lostsoldierS636 says it's evil, and we all know how twisted he is.
lostsoldierS636: And damn proud of it.
Jason Grace son of zues: Yeah, but some ideas are too twisted to be feasible. Fun for him maybe, but I've been forced to be the rational one. So when I get an evil idea that's rational as well...get ready for a rollar coaster ride.
lostsoldierS636: Also before I say my send off, I must ask you readers to please take a look at the voting poll and make a vote. The question is there and so is te choices. This is lostsoldierS636 sighing off.
Jason Grace son of zues: Oh, and before I sign off, I know you're curious on who won the fight from last chapter. Answer...I did. Air powers, you just can't beat 'em.
lostsoldierS636: Bullshit! I so won that one. That and the fact that I did know about the aspirin fact, only I just forgotten it.
Jason Grace son of zues: How can you call that a win when I sent you skipping across the Atlantic Ocean?
lostsoldierS636: Then tell me...how do you call me summoning Cthulu and every other ancient creature like a Leviathan, Kraken and Godzilla from the sea right now to come kick your candy ass? (Water rises as said creatures arise from it)
Jason Grace son of zues: (Looks up calmly and rubs his chin, thinking) hmm, let's see. You summon them, you direct them, so if I simply do THIS... (sucks all air from lostsoldierS636's lungs, followed by air hand punch to the jaw. lostsoldierS636 collapses while everything he summoned vanishes.) ...they go away, it's that simple. Till next time! I should go make sure he's not dead, that would suck.
(Jason Grace son of zues goes near lostsoldierS636 and pokes him with his foot. He then leans down only to find a clawednd around his throat.)
lostsoldierS636: I beg to differ.
(Throws Jason Grace son of zues through a building. Seconds later he walks from the hole)
Jason Grace son of zues: Oh, cheap shots huh!? That's the only way you get a advantage you ass!
lostsoldierS636:(Rises from the ground covered in an outfit consisting of black with a red cloak. Chains appear from behind him as he pulls down a mask over his face) Lets just see how well you beat something that's already dead!
Jason Grace son of zues:( eyes start glowing white and winds whipping around. Black mist starts forming around to make the Black Wolf head. Bares teeth) Death vs a force of nature. Let's see which wins!
(Both charge towards each. Explosion of wind followed Imagery fizzing out and being replaced by color bars)
Please stand by for next time.