It's been three days since she was kidnapped, and Mimic hasn't left SciLab once. She hasn't even left the room ProtoMan's in, too afraid that something will happen the absolute second she leaves.
Dr. Hikari didn't protest her staying - he can't, really, since he's practically camping out at SciLab as well. He barely stops working, trying to save ProtoMan, trying to stop the Dark Chip from overwriting his programming, and only really pauses to take breaks so he can rest or eat.
During one of his breaks, he'd given Mimic a small device. Apparently it's used to store NetNavis - and it's currently housing Arcadia, because Mimic's PET is pretty much unusable at the moment, and Lan hadn't wanted to keep Arcadia in his own PET since he didn't want to keep Arcadia away from Mimic or ProtoMan whenever he went home.
At least this means she knows where Arcadia is. She'd been afraid he'd need to stay in SciLab's network, where he'd have to watch the Poltergeist rage inside its prison. She wouldn't wish that on him; he cares about ProtoMan just as much as she and Chaud do, and it hurts to watch the Poltergeist from the real world. It's probably even worse in the cyberworld.
In one corner of the room, Mimic has created a little nest for herself. It's pretty much just the blanket that Lan gave her with a pillow, and when she's not sitting on the floor in front of the glass capsule or walking around to burn off some of her energy, she's curled up in her nest with Ragdoll.
That's where she is right now, clutching the storage device in one hand while the other gently threads through Ragdoll's long fur. She's resting her chin on the edge of her blanket nest so she can watch the Poltergeist - which is the main reason why she made this nest in the corner, since she can easily see the glass capsule.
But she can't see the door from here, because she's hidden from the eyes of anyone who walks in. It's good for privacy, and she can hear when people approach the door anyway, so it's not like she'll get startled when it opens.
Like right now, for example. She can hear three separate sets of footsteps heading toward the door - one set is now more familiar to her, since she's spent all of her time at SciLab lately, and she recognises the purposeful steps of Famous. The other two sets, one heavier and the other much lighter, are less familiar to her, but she recognises them all the same.
"Kifune and Manabe," she calls to Dr. Hikari.
Dr. Hikari glances over his shoulder at her. "You can hear them coming?" he asks. She nods. "Alright. Thanks, Chaud."
He stands up just as the three sets of footsteps stop at the door, and then it opens. Famous greets Dr. Hikari energetically enough, but Mimic can tell he's almost as exhausted as Dr. Hikari - Famous has been helping to save ProtoMan as much as he can, working at SciLab whenever he isn't needed at the Net Police HQ.
Kifune and Manabe's greeting is much more subdued, though. Mimic doesn't need to wonder why - they've been working to deal with the fallout of the rescue operation, though she's not sure about the details, exactly. If Lan knew, he'd have told her immediately, but he's been put on standby until further notice and hasn't been involved with any cleanup operations. Famous hasn't said anything either, but that's only because when he's here, he's usually too busy working with Dr. Hikari, and Mimic doesn't want to distract him.
"Is Chaud in here?" Kifune asks. "We need to speak with him."
She hears Famous sigh. "I've told him Chaud's not ready yet," he says to Dr. Hikari. "But he says it's urgent."
Dr. Hikari's tone is respectful but firm when he speaks to Kifune. "I'm sorry, Commissioner, but Famous is right - Chaud is nowhere near ready for a debriefing yet. He needs more time to recover."
"We need to debrief him," Manabe insists. "He may have information that could be vital to tracking down Nebula. We haven't heard anything from them since they attempted to break into the Aerospace company. We need all the information we can get at this point."
"I don't care." Dr. Hikari's voice is taking on a more stony edge now. "He's not ready. Give him more time to recover, and then debrief him."
"Dr. Hikari, please-" Kifune begins.
"He was tortured," Dr. Hikari almost snaps. "You expect him to bounce back from something like that? Most adults wouldn't be able to handle what he went through."
"We're aware of that." Kifune seems to be keeping his voice carefully restrained and patient. You don't need Arcadia's Empath Program to see how agitated Dr. Hikari is. "But given his ability-"
"Get out," Dr. Hikari says. There's nothing respectful about that tone - it's a clear warning.
Kifune could easily pull rank or something, being the Commissioner of the Net Police and all, but it seems even he doesn't want to mess with a stressed-out scientist. He sighs and Mimic hears him taking a step back.
"We'll give him more time," Kifune says. Dr. Hikari snorts disbelievingly. "Just let us know when he's ready. We need to speak to him."
"So you've said." Dr. Hikari's voice is almost cold.
Kifune and Manabe's footsteps walk away and then fade out of Mimic's hearing. She doesn't hear Famous leave, though, so she guesses he's still in the room.
She turns out to be right when Famous peers into the corner to check on her. When he sees that she's looking at him, he flashes her a tired grin and a quick thumbs-up, then heads back over to Dr. Hikari.
"I'm sorry," Famous murmurs. "I did try to make them understand, but . . . well, they have a point. And they're also very stubborn."
"A lot of the people I know are stubborn," Dr. Hikari mutters. "That doesn't make it okay for them to harass a traumatised twelve-year-old."
"It's not like that and you know it."
Dr. Hikari sighs.
Mimic gets the feeling she's probably not supposed to be listening to this conversation. She doesn't know if they remember she can still hear them even if they whisper, but they're talking quietly, so that's a pretty big indicator that she should probably stop listening.
But she can't really turn her hearing off like a Navi can. Luckily for her, Famous had brought her some noise-cancelling earmuffs after discovering that she just wants some peace and quiet after what Ms. Yuri had put her through on the tanker. She fishes them out from under the blanket nest and puts them on.
Now all she hears of Dr. Hikari and Famous's conversation are indistinct murmurs, too muffled for her to make out the words. Everything else beyond the room is blocked, and she lays her head down and closes her eyes.
The only things she hears are the faint murmurs of Dr. Hikari and Famous, and the occasional muffled shriek from the Poltergeist.
It's almost peaceful.
She must doze off, because the next time she opens her eyes, Dr. Hikari and Famous are both gone. There's no one in the room aside from her, Ragdoll, the Poltergeist, and Arcadia, who's still inside the storage device. He hasn't left it since Dr. Hikari gave it to Mimic.
"Mimic. Mimic? Can you hear me?"
Arcadia's voice isn't quite as muffled as the Poltergeist's occasional shrieks, but it's not as sharp as it would've been if she hadn't been wearing these earmuffs. It still sounds weird, though, and she doesn't think it's polite to have a conversation with someone while wearing earmuffs that would've made anyone else completely deaf.
She pulls off the earmuffs and tucks them back under the blanket nest, then lifts up the storage device so she can see Arcadia.
"Dr. Hikari left a couple of minutes ago," Arcadia tells her. "He told me to let you know where he went as soon as you woke up."
Mimic makes a quietly inquisitive noise.
"He went to a meeting with some important tech company in the main room," Arcadia says. "He didn't say who, but the meeting is apparently to discuss a new PET project and something called a . . . Battle Chip Gate, I think it was?"
Mimic jerks upright in her nest, disturbing Ragdoll, who had been curled up against her stomach. He trills questioningly, looking up at her for a moment, before laying his head back down and tucking his tail over his nose.
"What is it?" Arcadia asks. "Why'd you get so scared suddenly?"
"IPC," Mimic says.
Arcadia freezes.
Wait, what? Chaud sounds almost as scared as she feels, though she can detect some traces of confusion in his fear. Why would IPC be here?
Mimic brings the storage device closer and whispers so there's no danger of anything she says being overheard. "In- in the anime," she tells them, "SciLab worked with I-IPC. A lot. One of- of the projects was a n-new PET. Another was th-the Battle Chi- Chip Gate. They . . . usually worked w-with Chaud."
"But if you're here, then they shouldn't be here, right?" Arcadia asks.
IPC usually sent me to represent joint projects like the ones you're talking about, Chaud says quietly. Mimic holds up a hand to let Arcadia know that he's speaking, in case Arcadia accidentally talks over him. I have to wonder, if they're still doing joint projects, who did they send to SciLab?
Wanna find out? Mimic asks him.
Uh . . . yes? He doesn't sound very enthusiastic, though. But wouldn't that technically count as spying? Which is, you know, illegal.
Only if we get caught, Mimic replies.
"You've got that mischievous feeling again," Arcadia comments. "Why do I think we're about to do something we shouldn't? And will likely regret?"
"Chaud wants to f-find out who- who IPC sent," Mimic replies. "Said it's- i-it's usually him."
" . . . I could bring up the security camera feed," Arcadia says cautiously. "If we get caught, I guess we could always say we were checking for threats or something . . . which is technically a valid excuse."
There, see? Mimic says to Chaud. Now we have a backup plan.
He sighs irritably. How many more times do your tricks have to get you into trouble before you stop doing them?
Zero, because I will not stop.
Arcadia vanishes from inside the storage device as Chaud sends Mimic a wave of exasperation through their connection. A few moments later, Arcadia streams back into the storage device, and a holographic screen flickers into existence in front of Mimic.
It shows footage of the main room, currently empty. But as Mimic watches, the doors open, and Dr. Hikari walks in, looking over his shoulder. Famous and another scientist follow him in, walking past him to take their seats at one side of the room, and then a couple of businessmen in black suits come in after them, settling down on the other side. They leave a space between them, which is a little odd, but then Mimic spots Dr. Hikari talking to someone else who's hidden from view since they're still outside the room.
A moment later, Dr. Hikari steps back to allow the person to step inside, and Mimic's heart very nearly stops beating.
Shuseki Blaze walks into the room, pausing to say something to Dr. Hikari, and then heads over to the space the two businessmen have left for him.
No, she thinks, pressing herself deeper into the blanket nest. No, no, he can't be here, why is he here?
For the projects, Chaud replies numbly. He's . . . he's here for the joint projects.
The projects. Not for her.
It's a struggle to remind herself of that when she looks at him. The last time Mimic had seen Shuseki, he'd thrown her out onto the streets. He looks almost exactly as she remembers, though his expression is only the polite coolness of a businessman rather than the cold hatred of a man who should never have been allowed to father a child.
"We're not watching this anymore," Arcadia declares. Mimic doesn't protest when he vanishes again, and a moment later, the holographic screen in front of her disappears.
But even with the image gone, she can't get Shuseki out of her head.
He's here for the joint projects. Not for her. But she can't help but think that he'll somehow know she's here, and then . . . and then . . .
She doesn't know. He'd made it clear that he never wants to see her again, but she has no idea how he'd react if he saw her. He'd be able to recognise her immediately if he sees her, she knows he would.
Why did he have to come? Why couldn't he have sent someone else in his place? It's bad enough that IPC is here to begin with, though that's unavoidable since there's no other way for the Battle Chip Gate to be created. But she probably would've been fine if it had been any random mook - instead, now she has to deal with the fact that Shuseki Blaze is in the same building as her, even if he doesn't know it.
She drags out her earmuffs and puts them on again, burying her head under the blanket. Quiet and darkness always seems to help.
"Chaud?"
Dr. Hikari's come back. However much time has passed, it's apparently been long enough for the meeting with IPC to finish. But she's still not quite gotten over the shock of seeing the one person she'd rather never have to see ever again as long as she lives.
She feels a gentle hand shaking her shoulder, and takes the blanket off her head - pulling off her earmuffs in the process - and looks up at Dr. Hikari. As soon as he sees her, his expression turns from puzzled to worried, and he immediately glances over his shoulder to check on the Poltergeist.
"Did something happen to ProtoMan?" he asks. He answers his own question a moment later. "No, he's still . . . there." He'd probably been about to say 'still okay', but ProtoMan is far from okay right now. So is Mimic.
"It's not about ProtoMan, "Arcadia speaks up in a subdued tone. "It's . . . it's about your meeting with IPC."
Dr. Hikari kind of freezes for a moment, and then he looks back at Mimic. "I . . . was hoping you wouldn't find out about them being here," he admits. He sighs and settles down in front of her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was meeting with. I didn't know how you'd react to hearing that IPC is here."
"How about Shuseki Blaze?" Arcadia's voice hardens just slightly.
"How did you know-" Dr. Hikari stops, and groans. "One of the security Navis told me someone accessed the security camera feed an hour ago. Was that you?"
"Yes," Arcadia says.
Dr. Hikari sighs again. "If it makes you feel any better," he says, "I almost punched him in the face."
Mimic jerks her head up and stares at him.
Dr. Hikari lets out a sheepish laugh. "I wasn't aware he was coming until he stepped out of the car," he admits. "If I had known, I would've scheduled the meeting to take place somewhere other than SciLab, but apparently he decided to personally oversee this meeting himself at the last minute, and no one told us."
"How did you almost punch him in the face, though?" Arcadia asks.
There's a moment of silence, during which Mimic tries to figure out Dr. Hikari's expression. She thinks he looks almost guilty, but there's something like sadness in there too, and definitely anger - not directed at her, but someone else. Shuseki, probably.
"I'm sure you're aware that I have my suspicions about how that man treated you," Dr. Hikari says quietly. Mimic makes sure the only reaction she has is a blink. "When I saw him, all those suspicions just . . . came back, I suppose. There's really no other way I can describe it. But I didn't actually punch him, though. I wanted to, but I stopped myself just in time. It . . . wouldn't have looked good, if I just punched him for apparently no reason. Even though there probably is one."
He looks at her carefully, checking her reaction, as if he's trying to figure out what that reason could be if he could only look hard enough. But she keeps her expression blank and he soon gives up trying.
If Dr. Hikari had almost punched Shuseki over mere suspicions, he'd probably murder the man if he found out even half of what he's done to Mimic - or Chaud, even.
It . . . it is kinda nice to know that Dr. Hikari is willing to punch her former abuser in the face for her sake, though.
While she feels faintly amused and even warm at the thought of how protective Dr. Hikari is over her, Chaud feels differently. She picks up sparks of fear from their connection, the same kind of fear that he'd felt when Yahoot had offered to fuck up Shuseki's life for her.
Chaud still too afraid of Shuseki to be able to feel anything other than fear at the thought of anyone messing with the bastard on his - their - behalf.
Luckily for them, thoughts of Shuseki Blaze are chased away relatively quickly when they get a surprise visitor. It's been a couple of hours since Dr. Hikari admitted to almost punching the president of IPC in the face, and Mimic's now sitting in front of the Poltergeist in the glass capsule after walking around the room for a while.
She hears rapid footsteps suddenly, too fast-moving for her to figure out who they belong to, and another set of footsteps stumbling after them.
Before she has time to be puzzled or even worried, the door bursts open, and Anetta stumbles in, freezing when she spots Mimic.
Mimic slowly gets up. As soon as she's on her feet, Anetta springs into movement.
"Lostie!" she practically screams, throwing herself at Mimic. She wraps Mimic into a hug so tight that Mimic can almost feel her bones cracking under the pressure. Damn, Anetta's stronger than she looks.
A moment later, a scientist rushes in, leaning on the doorway and gasping for breath. "I'm sorry," he pants, looking at Dr. Hikari. "I tried to stop her, she is super slippery." He gulps in a deep breath, presses a hand against his side, and stumbles away. "I gotta go sit down . . ."
Dr. Hikari just looks completely bewildered. As soon as the scientist leaves, he glances at Mimic and Anetta, clearly expecting some sort of explanation, but Mimic is too surprised by Anetta's surprise appearance and Anetta's too focused on hugging Mimic to death.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Anetta cries, finally pulling back. Mercifully, she stops hugging Mimic, though she keeps her hands on Mimic's shoulders. "I was so worried when I saw those people . . ."
"Anetta . . ." Mimic murmurs. Suddenly her friend's overly enthusiastic greeting makes sense.
"Anetta?" Dr. Hikari's expression clears. "You're Chaud's friend. And you're the one who called the Net Police when he was . . ."
"Y-yeah," Anetta says, biting her lip. "I, um . . . I'm so sorry for bursting in like this. Lan contacted me yesterday. I don't even know how he got my contact details, but he- he told me that you'd found Lostie- I mean, Chaud. I was . . . I just wanted to see him! I'm sorry I didn't-"
"It's fine," Dr. Hikari says, raising a hand to forestall any more apologies. "Just . . . next time, how about you wait in the lobby instead of running through the halls?" He gives her an amused smile. "You might get thrown out if you get caught breaking in again."
"I wasn't breaking in, I-" Anetta's half-offended protest is cut off when the Poltergeist screeches again, lashing out and smashing its tendrils of shadows against the glass capsule. Anetta stares at it, eyes wide with shock. "What . . . what is that?"
Mimic can't bring herself to answer. She's never told Anetta the source of ProtoMan's shadows - and she doesn't remember if Anetta's ever seen Dark Shadow. It looks almost exactly like the Poltergeist, except its mouth doesn't have the same white glow coming from inside it, and it's not as solid as the Poltergeist. If Anetta's never seen Dark Shadow, she won't recognise the Poltergeist.
Mimic can't tell Anetta that the screeching creature in the capsule is ProtoMan.
But Dr. Hikari can.
"That's . . . that's ProtoMan," he says.
"What?" Anetta whispers, eyes widening even more. "But- what?"
Dr. Hikari shoots Mimic a worried glance, and then gestures for Anetta to go over to him. "Come here and sit down," he tells her. "I'll answer your questions as much as I'm able to."
Anetta reluctantly lets go of Mimic and heads over to him. Mimic steps away and settles back down onto the floor, feeling wretched all over again, as Dr. Hikari quietly explains what the Poltergeist Program is - and the abilities it gave ProtoMan, which evolved over time. When he's done explaining that, he tells Anetta about the Dark Chip that Mimic gave to ProtoMan, and her horrified reaction upon finding out what it's doing to ProtoMan makes Mimic want to put on her earmuffs again.
When Dr. Hikari finishes telling Anetta what's going on, she gets up. There's a firm, almost angry look in her eyes, and Mimic flinches when she looks over at her. Anetta lost Silk to the Dark Aura - how will she feel about Mimic willingly using a Dark Chip on ProtoMan?
But when Anetta comes over and crouches in front of Mimic, she grips Mimic's shoulders and her anger suddenly seems more like fierce determination.
"This is not your fault," Anetta tells her firmly. "Do you hear me? I know you've probably been blaming yourself for this, but you're wrong. I know ProtoMan doesn't blame you - even if he's out of his mind right now, he won't ever blame you for something like this. In fact, if anyone's to blame, it's that Amano girl! She's the one who tried to trick you into using that thing in the first place!"
Anetta suddenly pauses, and then glances over at Dr. Hikari.
"Where is she, anyway?" Anetta asks. "I mean, she ran off after that NetBattle, and I didn't even know she was involved until . . . well, until right now."
"We don't know where Hatsuko Amano is at the moment," Dr. Hikari replies. "The Net Police have been trying to track her down, but she seems to have vanished after Chaud was kidnapped. Her parents have been questioned, but they haven't seen her either. Neither has her aunt."
"Her aunt?"
"Dr. Rei Amano," Dr. Hikari says. "Chaud's doctor." He pauses awkwardly. "Sort of."
"Sorry if this seems rude," Anetta says, plopping down next to Mimic, "but I hope that Amano girl never shows up again. She was a total piece of work when I met her, but finding out she's basically responsible for . . . for this-" She gestures at the Poltergeist. "-is horrible. I'll probably punch her if I see her again."
Mimic gives her a look. "You told m-me- told me not to . . . beat people up," she points out.
"I know I'm being a total hypocrite," Anetta says, "but she honestly deserves it."
Mimic can't really argue with that.
She glances over at Dr. Hikari, and finds him looking at them with a perplexed expression. He'd seemed fine a moment ago, so Mimic's a little concerned at this sudden change. But she doesn't think it's anything bad - if it was, he would've said something.
"What's up, Mr. Hikari?" Anetta asks curiously, catching his puzzled look as well.
"It's doctor, actually," Dr. Hikari corrects her. "And . . . I'm sorry, I'm just not used to seeing anyone be so . . . rough with Chaud, I guess."
"Rough?" Anetta glances at Mimic, as if asking for an explanation, but Mimic just shrugs. She has no idea what Dr. Hikari's thinking either.
"Almost everyone I've seen interacting with Chaud has been gentle with him," Dr. Hikari explains. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone who's . . . who's not gentle with him."
"Oh, rough," Anetta says, nodding. "Yeah, um . . . I dunno." She shrugs. "He's never complained, so . . ." She suddenly looks worried, and she turns to Mimic. "Am I treating you too roughly? Is . . . is that what you want, or . . . ?"
"You're f-fine," Mimic tells her.
Anetta looks relieved. "Oh, that's good," she says, grinning. "I was kinda worried for a moment there. But, I mean, I guess it never really occured to me to be gentle with you, since we nearly burn down my house every other week . . ."
"Wait, what?" Dr. Hikari blurts out.
"We're really bad at cooking," Anetta says cheerfully.
Dr. Hikari looks absolutely horrified, and Mimic gets the feeling she's probably never going to be allowed anywhere near the kitchen if - when - she goes home. That's not too much of a loss, since she never really cooked at home, though she's not sure what she'll do if Dr. Hikari decides to ban her from trying to cook at Anetta's house.
They all jump when a sharp alarm suddenly rings out. Mimic flinches and covers her ears, the high-pitched noise reminding her too much of the sounds she'd been tortured with, while Dr. Hikari springs to his feet and looks around wildly.
"That's the intruder alarm!" he exclaims.
"Wh-what's going on?" Anetta's scrambling to her feet as well, now looking panicked. Mimic remembers the only crisis she's ever been involved with directly was the hospital fire months ago, and she'd lost her best friend on that day.
"Someone must be trying to invade the network," Dr. Hikari says, whirling around and furiously typing away at the console.
Before he can get any further, there's a faint rumble. Mimic isn't the only one who hears it - Dr. Hikari looks up sharply, and Anetta looks even more panicked upon hearing the rumbling.
"Is- is there an earthquake?" she asks, looking around wildly.
As if in answer, a multi-coloured sheen fades into existence on every surface. There's another rumble this time, far louder and more like a crash, and then the sound of panicked screaming reaches Mimic's ears.
"Darkloid attack," she tells Dr. Hikari, standing up.
He stares at her in dismay, then shakes his head like he's trying to deny it. "But why would Nebula attack now?" he demands. He's not asking her, he's just talking out loud. "What possible reason could they have for-" He breaks off abruptly.
Mimic realises it at the same time as him. They exchange a horrified glance, and then look at the Poltergeist, still hissing and screeching in the capsule. With the attack happening, it's even wilder, as if it can sense that something's going on.
"What?" Anetta is looking between them in bewilderment. "What's going on? Who's Nebula?"
"Nebula are the people who kidnapped Chaud," Dr. Hikari explains tightly. "And now they want ProtoMan, because he's turning into a Darkloid."
Anetta lets out a gasp of shock.
Dr. Hikari grits his teeth, and looks at the storage device in Mimic's hand. "Arcadia!"
Arcadia materialises next to Mimic, startling Anetta. She gapes at him, stunned into silence, but this is no time to explain why Arcadia's suddenly in the real world.
"I want you to stay here," Dr. Hikari tells him. "Protect ProtoMan. Make sure the Darkloids can't get at him."
"Understood," Arcadia agrees. He steps away from Mimic and takes up a position near the capsule, where he can keep an eye on the consoles for any activity in the cyberworld as well as defend it from the threat in the real world. His feathers are rippling like his Holy Fire, either in response to the Darkloid attack or the Dark Chip still active in ProtoMan's systems.
"Chaud." Dr. Hikari's voice softens as he speaks to her, and he crouches so they're eye-level, reaching out to gently cup her face in his hands. "Listen to me. You and Anetta cannot leave this room. No matter what happens, you have to stay in here. Don't try to be a hero, alright? Promise me. Please."
"Promise," Mimic whispers, almost feeling the intensity of his emotions even though she can't sense people's feelings like Arcadia can.
"Stay safe," Dr. Hikari murmurs, pressing his lips to the top of her head. He stays like that for a moment, almost as if he can't bear to let her go, and then he draws back and gives her one last look before rushing out the door.
"Where's he going?" Anetta asks fearfully, watching Dr. Hikari leave.
"Probably to activate SciLab's defences," Arcadia replies. Anetta jumps as if she'd forgotten he was there. "They can only be activated and controlled from the main room. It's better for security that way, otherwise anyone who wanders in could lock down the entire building from any room they choose."
"O-oh . . . I . . . I guess that makes sense."
Meanwhile, Mimic is still distracted by the intensity of Dr. Hikari's emotions. She knows he cares for her, but she hadn't realised just how much until right now. Does Lan feel the same way? Does Haruka?
She remembers Haruka bringing Ragdoll to her and looking after her while she was still trapped in that mental fog. She remembers how happy Lan had been when he'd seen her walking around after he'd come back from his mission a couple of days ago. And she can't stop feeling Dr. Hikari kissing the top of her head, giving her one last look full of worry and love for her, before he left.
Oh, Mimic thinks. They love me.
The realisation is far simpler than she'd thought it would be.
The last time there was a crisis at SciLab that Ragdoll had been present for, he'd tried to attack BeastMan - the Darkloid who had almost killed her and given her a very healthy fear of most Darkloids from then on, until she started fighting them herself anyway. Mimic doesn't want Ragdoll to try and attack anything again, so she clips his lead to his collar and makes sure she has a tight grip on it.
Then she tries to work out who might be attacking SciLab.
The answer's obvious - it's probably GravityMan. In the anime, he'd gone after IPC's research facility, attacking at random, a mere distraction so ProtoMan - the evil version, but not Dark ProtoMan, not yet - could break into the network and steal the data for the new PET.
She can guess why it's SciLab under attack this time, instead of IPC. ProtoMan had been the one to tell LaserMan about the new PET being developed, but Nebula doesn't have ProtoMan this time, so they probably don't know about the new PET. Instead, as she and Dr. Hikari have already realised, Nebula is attacking SciLab so they can get ProtoMan.
Will they send viruses, too? Ones strong enough to break the cage that Dr. Hikari has to keep ProtoMan in? She doubts any viruses would be strong enough to do that, though - the cage was originally the Gospel beast's, and it's held the Poltergeist for over three days. If a few strong viruses could break through the cage, it never would've had the strength to hold the Gospel beast, and it definitely wouldn't be able to handle the Poltergeist.
Arcadia hasn't reacted to anything, and he's still out in the real world, standing guard next to the glass capsule. So the only threat is in the real world at the moment, meaning this attack only has one part to it, rather than the two-part assault from the anime.
So no viruses being sent to attack from the cyberworld. That's one relief, at least.
Mimic's just explaining to Anetta why Arcadia is able to materialise himself - and why his feathers are glowing like that - when she hears familiar footsteps running down the hall. She gestures for Anetta to stay where she is and goes over to the door, peering out just in time to catch Lan turning the corner.
"Chaud!" he exclaims, pausing when he sees her. Then he runs over and stops in front of her. "Are you okay? Do you know which Darkloid's attacking SciLab?"
He's already in Cross Fusion, so Mimic guesses he broke through the dimensional area's barrier to get here. If he'd been at SciLab before the barrier appeared, he would've already been fighting GravityMan - or whoever Nebula sent.
"Not sure," Mimic says. A faint rumble shakes the building and she grips the door frame to steady herself. She can't really tell Lan that it's GravityMan when she's not even sure of it herself. This is too different from the anime for her to even have basic knowledge of what's going on.
"Where's Dad?" Lan asks, peering past her into the room. Arcadia waves at him from his guard position, and Anetta is gaping at him from where Mimic left her. "He's not here?"
"He went to the main room to activate SciLab's defences," Arcadia explains. "We haven't heard anything from him since."
Lan narrows his eyes in thought, and then glances down the hall. "I'm gonna go find him," he says. "You guys stay here, okay?"
"Dr. Hikari told me to protect ProtoMan," Arcadia tells him. "I'm not going anywhere. Neither are Chaud and Anetta." Ragdoll trills, brushing against Mimic's legs, and looks over at him as if offended that he was left out. "And Ragdoll too," Arcadia quickly adds.
"Oh, so you're Anetta!" Lan exclaims, looking at her. "Hi, I'm Lan! I contacted you earlier, remember?"
"Your dad," Mimic reminds him.
Lan jolts like he's been shocked, and he nods and steps back. "Right, I'm going now," he says. "Stay safe, you guys!"
He runs off down the hall. Mimic watches him go until he's out of sight, then heads back into the room with Ragdoll padding around her.
"That was Lan?" Anetta sounds even more bewildered than she's ever been before. "I honestly thought he was a NetNavi for a second there . . . I'm guessing that was Cross Fusion, right?"
"Yeah," Arcadia agrees. "Whoever's attacking SciLab, Lan will fight them off. He's powerful enough even on his own."
What if he can't, though? Mimic wonders. The only reason they'd managed to beat GravityMan last time was because they were working together, and Lan's on his own this time.
Sure, he'd managed it in the anime, but Chaud had been giving him instructions during the battle and had told Lan how to beat GravityMan's gravity barrier. And besides, there's still the possibility that the Darkloid attacking SciLab isn't even GravityMan in the first place. Lan could be fighting literally anyone right now.
Her worry continues to grow as the minutes pass, and the rumbling doesn't stop. She can just about hear the faint sounds of Lan firing his Mega Buster, and the occasional heavy crash of something being thrown. If it is GravityMan, Lan must be doing what he did in the anime - picking up heavy machines and hurling them at the Darkloid to cancel his gravity barrier. She has to wonder how much it's going to cost SciLab to fix all the damage.
Then she realises that she doesn't have to wonder what's going on - she can just see it for herself.
Dr. Hikari told you to stay here! Chaud protests immediately.
And I am, Mimic replies. But there's other ways to see what's going on other than blindly running into the middle of a Cross Fusion battle.
Chaud picks up on her idea quickly, and relief floods through their connection.
Mimic hands Ragdoll's lead to Anetta and then heads over to the console Dr. Hikari's been working at for the past few days. Arcadia gives her a puzzled look when she passes him, but she doesn't say anything - she's too busy trying to figure out how the hell she's meant to do this.
Let me help, Chaud offers. Getting up the security feed is child's play for me.
Low-key bragging much? Mimic replies, amused.
She lets him direct her on how to open up the security feed. Almost immediately, several holographic screens appear around her, and she looks through them until she spots one showing her Lan fighting GravityMan in a wide-open atrium. There's a balcony encircling the second floor, and she can see Dr. Hikari leaning on the railing, shouting something to Lan - she doesn't know what, because there's no sound, but she can still hear the faint crashes from the battle now matching up with what she's seeing on the screen, and guesses Dr. Hikari is trying to stop Lan from destroying too much expensive machinery.
"Does he have any idea how much that stuff costs?" Arcadia is gaping at the screen as well.
"I don't think he cares," Anetta comments. "Is he always that reckless in a fight?"
"Chaud's even worse," Arcadia replies bluntly.
Mimic throws him an offended glare over her shoulder.
"I'm not sorry, 'cus it's true," Arcadia says, unashamedly.
He has a point, Chaud points out.
No one asked you, Mimic grumbles. Chaud just laughs at her.
She turns her attention back to the screen. Lan's just thrown some giant machine at GravityMan, cancelling his barrier once again, and now he's rushing at the Darkloid with a Long Sword.
An enraged screech makes her flinch, and she stumbles as the floor beneath her feet quakes. There's a high-pitched crack and another screech, this time even louder than the previous one, and she thinks she can hear pain in it rather than rage.
Mimic turns around.
Arcadia is watching in horror as the glass capsule starts to crack, and on the other side of it, Anetta is backing away, half-crouching to drag Ragdoll with her. The capsule is full of writhing shadows, so many that the Poltergeist's body isn't even visible, and just underneath the writhing shadows, Mimic can see a sickly purple glow.
No! Mimic stares at the capsule in dismay. Why? Why'd this have to happen now!?
What is it!? Chaud exclaims. What's going on!?
The capsule explodes before she can reply. Glass shards fly everywhere and dust and smoke billow out in every direction, blocking her view. Mimic has to duck to avoid getting cut by the glass shards, though she's not entirely successful because she can feel sharp pain cutting into the skin on her bare arms.
She shakes her head, trying to clear it, and looks up. She can't see a damn thing in the middle of the smoke cloud, but she can just about make out the shape of Arcadia as he gets to his feet, spreading his wings. He starts beating them, blasting out wind to clear out the dust and smoke, and within moments, the cloud is gone.
Dark ProtoMan crouches in the broken remains of the glass capsule.
The lights start to flicker and more than one of the consoles in the room explodes. Dark ProtoMan raises his head and looks directly at Mimic.
The cold dread she'd felt upon seeing Dr. Regal when trying to escape from Ms. Yuri is nothing compared to the jolt of sheer terror that surges through her right now. She watches Dark ProtoMan rise up slowly, smooth and cat-like, almost predatory in nature, and finds herself frozen where she stands.
"Oh, no," Arcadia chokes out.
Dark ProtoMan raises an arm, activates his Buster, and blasts Arcadia with full power.
Arcadia gets blown straight through the wall, a scream of pain fading with him. Anetta is completely motionless on the other side of the broken capsule, with Ragdoll pressing himself against her legs, back arched and fur standing on end as he hisses. But Dark ProtoMan just ignores them - he hasn't looked away from Mimic once, even when he blasted Arcadia.
Dark ProtoMan pulls his lips back and bares his teeth in a terrifying grin.
Mimic feels another jolt of terror run through her, and a sickening sense of recognition. That's her smile, she realises. The same puppy-eating smile that freaks people out so much.
"Run," Dark ProtoMan tells her.
Lan drags another machine out of the ground, ignoring Dad's protests. So what if these things are expensive? He needs heavy stuff to break GravityMan's stupid barrier!
That's what Chaud did, back when they'd battled GravityMan the first time. He'd wondered how Chaud knew to use Stone Cube chips to cancel the gravity barrier back then - now, though, he supposes Chaud must've had a dream about it, and figured out how to cancel the barrier from that.
Lucky for Lan, then. Never let it be said that he doesn't learn from his past battles - he hadn't downloaded any Stone Cubes, but he's got a bunch of heavy machines that can do the job just as well.
He hurls the machine at GravityMan, disturbing the Darkloid's latest attack, and then immediately follows up with a Long Sword attack. GravityMan beeps loudly and floats back, his version of a flinch, and Lan can see a deep groove cut into his round mechanical body.
"Hah!" Lan shouts cheerfully, banishing the Long Sword. The durability was nearly up just from that one attack, showing just how tough GravityMan's armour is, but it still worked and he has two more sword-type chips left anyway. "This is easy!"
"Don't jinx it!" MegaMan warns him. "And stop breaking everything!"
"It's working, isn't it?" Lan huffs. He quickly casts about for another machine he can throw, and spots one nearby.
"Lan!" Dad shouts from the balcony. "Stop! We might not be able to replace everything you throw at him!"
"Just build what you can't buy, then!" Lan shouts back.
"That's not what he means, Lan . . ." MegaMan's protests are in vain.
Lan hauls up the machine and chucks it at GravityMan just as the Darkloid's gravity barrier comes back up. GravityMan makes a frustrated noise and tries to raise his arms for an attack, but Lan's already one step ahead.
"Step Cross, download!" he exclaims.
He steps forward and directs his teleport behind GravityMan. The Darkloid spins around in mid-air to meet his attack, but Lan's too fast, and he slashes an X-shape into GravityMan's armour.
"ERROR- ERROR-" GravityMan intones, beginning to spin around like crazy. "HEALTH DOWN- 80%- ABORT MISSION-"
He vanishes back into the cyberworld with one last beep.
Lan grins triumphantly and puts his hands on his hips, expecting the dimensional area to vanish along with him. When it doesn't, he pauses, and then looks down at himself - he's still in Cross Fusion, and he can still see the multi-coloured sheen of the dimensional area covering every surface.
"Dad?" Lan calls up. "Do you know if there was a second Darkloid running around?"
"GravityMan was the only enemy we were able to detect." Dad sounds just as puzzled as he is.
Lan's about to ask MegaMan if they can scan for enemies while in Cross Fusion, but a terrible screech splits the air before he can get the words out. Something about the screech sounds familiar; he can't quite put his finger on it, because it sounds wrong somehow. He's not sure how, it just does.
"What was that?" MegaMan asks.
An entire section of the wall is blown outwards, and the debris misses Lan by mere inches. He jumps back, scrambling away and coughing from the explosion of dust.
Another screech rings out. Glass shatters and the ground shakes, and Lan covers his ear discs, gritting his teeth against the pain. Is this how Chaud felt when Ms. Yuri was torturing him? If so, Lan doesn't know how Chaud is still sane after being forced to endure something like this for who-knows-how-long.
The dust starts to clear, and Lan hears Dad letting out a horrified yell. He doesn't know why until he looks up.
Chaud's scrambling on the ground, looking even more terrified than Lan's ever seen him in the entire time he's known him. Claws slam down beside Chaud's head and he flinches, immediately curling up into a ball and laying there, trembling.
Crouching over him is a Navi that Lan recognises, even though he looks different. His hair's bushed out more than usual and almost dirty grey in colour, his armour's such a deep red that it looks almost like blood, and his visor is bright red instead of black.
ProtoMan bares his teeth in a terrifying grin, leaning down until he's almost close enough to bite Chaud's neck if he wants to.
"Lan," MegaMan whispers, choked with horror, "he's not a NetNavi."
"He's a Darkloid," Lan says numbly.
At the sound of their voices, ProtoMan snaps his head up and looks at them. Lan finds himself taking a step back when he turns his terrifying grin on them, but he freezes as ProtoMan's claws score deep grooves into the ground near Chaud's head.
ProtoMan laughs. The sound is harsh and glitched, not quite the same as when he'd lost control after Chaud had been kidnapped, but close enough that it brings fear stabbing into Lan's heart.
While ProtoMan's distracted, Chaud uncurls himself and scrambles out from under him. ProtoMan turns his head to watch, an amused smirk on his face, as Chaud runs away - and then, when Chaud's only gotten a few feet away, ProtoMan gets ready to pounce.
He's playing, Lan realises with a jolt of sickening horror. ProtoMan's letting Chaud escape, only to grab him a moment later and then repeat the cycle. How long has this been going on? How long has Chaud been trying to escape the claws of his own NetNavi?
Before ProtoMan can pounce on Chaud, Lan activates his Mega Buster and fires it immediately, not giving himself a chance to hesitate - or ProtoMan a chance to attack Chaud again. The blast bounces off ProtoMan's armour, doing no visible damage, but it gets his attention long enough for Chaud to get to the other side of the room and dart behind one of the pillars holding up the balcony.
"Leave him alone," Lan says as firmly as he can. His worst fears have come true - ProtoMan is their enemy now. He's a Darkloid.
"Who's going to make me?" ProtoMan taunts him. "You? Don't make me laugh."
"I don't wanna hurt you, ProtoMan!" Lan shouts. He keeps his Buster trained on ProtoMan, even though it did nothing just now. "Go back to your cage and let us figure out how to help you!"
"I broke out of that stupid thing already!" ProtoMan laughs. "You can't contain me. You never could, not even when I was just a pathetic excuse of a NetNavi! I've been reborn as a Darkloid now - I am Dark ProtoMan! I don't need your help, stupid human!"
ProtoMan - Dark ProtoMan - stands up and raises an arm. A jagged-looking Buster materialises on it; it looks almost like the normal Proto Buster, but it's darker, and there are two scythe-like attachments spreading out from the top and bottom of it. Energy crackles between the two scythes and then fires out of the Buster.
Lan dodges to the side, and then flinches and covers his head when the blast explodes behind him, far stronger than anything ProtoMan ever managed with his normal Proto Buster.
He uncovers his head and looks up just in time to see Dark ProtoMan leaping into the air, drawing an arm back and flexing his claws. Lan yelps and scrambles away, and Dark ProtoMan slams into the ground where he'd just been, cracking it and smashing bits of the ground into the air from the force of his attack. Dark ProtoMan whirls on him before he has a chance to recover from that and slams into Lan, sending them both flying.
Lan hits the wall. Dark ProtoMan doesn't even let him slide down - he just grabs Lan by the throat and pins him up against the wall, laughing at him as he tries to claw Dark ProtoMan's hand off his throat. The newly-created Darkloid raises his free hand and snaps his claws out, pulling his lips back and giving Lan a sharp-toothed smirk.
A white blur slams into Dark ProtoMan, ripping him away from Lan. He finally slides down, gasping for breath, and when he's got enough air back into his lungs, he looks up.
Arcadia is wrestling with Dark ProtoMan, dragging him with his talons while his wings beat to keep him in the air. Holy Fire sparks along his arms but he doesn't use it, and Dark ProtoMan claws at Arcadia's legs and tries to force him to let go.
They slam into a pillar, and Chaud scrambles out from behind it. Dark ProtoMan sees him and immediately tries to abandon the fight and go after Chaud, but Arcadia has a firm grip on him and physically hurls him across the atrium in the opposite direction, streaking after him through the air.
"Chaud!" Lan gasps, struggling to his feet. "Over here, hurry!"
Chaud rushes over and lets Lan grab him. He starts moving, making sure to keep Chaud behind him and keeping an eye on Arcadia and Dark ProtoMan's fight. They're on the other side of the atrium, but both of them are ridiculously fast, and Dark ProtoMan could be over here in an instant if he gets away from Arcadia.
Arcadia bats Dark ProtoMan away with one of his wings, putting some distance between them. His Holy Fire ripples along his arm, and he uses it to create a Firebomb, then readies it to attack.
Dark ProtoMan crouches low to the ground, and looks up at Arcadia with a terrified expression. "Arcadia?" he whimpers. "Why are you hurting me?"
Arcadia hesitates.
Dark ProtoMan's terrified expression immediately turns into a malevolent grin, and he blasts Arcadia with his Buster. Arcadia is shot out of the air, landing heavily on the ground several metres away with a sharp gasp, and his Holy Fire splutters out upon impact.
"Idiot," Dark ProtoMan says. Dark amusement colours his tone. Then he turns to Lan and Chaud. "If you wouldn't mind handing over my former operator . . ."
"Never!" Lan snaps, moving back and shielding Chaud.
"Oh, come on," Dark ProtoMan sighs. "After all the trouble Nebula went to in order to recruit me, I may as well give them something to show my gratitude, right?" He gives Lan a dark smile and holds out his hand. "Now hand him over."
"You'll never take him," Arcadia grits out, struggling to stand up. "Never, you hear me? Never!"
"Shut up, already," Dark ProtoMan hisses, baring his teeth at him.
"The real ProtoMan would never turn Chaud over to the enemy!" Arcadia snaps. Holy Fire sparks along his arms again, and he raises them above his head. "He'd do anything to keep Chaud safe! And since he can't do that anymore . . . I WILL!"
He throws out his arms and hurls twin streams of Flashfire at Dark ProtoMan. The Darkloid steps back but can't avoid the double attack, and his enraged scream splits the air.
When the twin streams of Flashfire die down, Dark ProtoMan is gone. The dimensional area starts to fade, and Arcadia goes back into the cyberworld before Lan can see his expression.
Lan Crosses Out and catches his PET, then becomes aware of trembling hands clutching at the back of his vest. He turns around and reaches out, pulling Chaud into a hug, and lets his friend cry onto his shoulder.
He's almost too dazed to do anything else.